The Road To El Dorado
by sillypandalover91
Summary: After the tragic death of their grandfather, orphaned brothers Lovino and Feliciano Vargas make a name for themselves in 16th century Spain as the country's most wanted con men. After cheating in a game of dice, they win a map to El Dorado. Their stumble with the law lands them in the brig of a ship headed towards the new world where they find the lost city of gold. Human AU
1. Prologue

**The cast:**

**Miguel-Italy/ Feliciano Vargas**

**Tulio- Romano/Lovino Vargas**

**Chel- Spain/Antonio**

**Chief Tannabok- Cuba/Máximo**

**Tzekel-Kan- Mexico/Itzcóatl {pronounced (eetz kwatl)}  
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><p><strong>1504—Spain <strong>

"I can't believe you conned your way onto this voyage by convincing them that you were Christopher Columbus' Cousin." Though Wolfgang said that with exasperation, he couldn't help but smile into his beer stein. People said many things about Romulus Vargas. Things like '_he's a boisterous bastard_' and '_that guy is a no good, wife seducing—_husband seducing when he felt like it_—son of a bitch_' were often tossed his way as if he gave a damn about what they thought about the company he kept. He honestly didn't.

Because despite what people said, Wolfgang knew the truth. Yeah, his friend was all those things but he was also a brilliant man, a decent friend, and, most importantly, he was a wonderful grandfather to his two orphaned grandchildren.

Romulus grinned, "It wasn't hard. We're both Italian."

"Oh, ja? I didn't know all Italians are relatives. That explains why you are all so simple minded."

"Oi! I resent that." The Italian waved his hands about, "Besides, I got a spot on the ship, didn't I? Now you can quite your nagging about me going with you to the new world." Romulus' grin turned flirtatious, "Though you could've just said that you wanted to sail away into the sunset with me. I wouldn't have waited so long and missed the deadline to sign up."

Rolling his eyes, Wolfgang finished the rest of his dinner, "Please. As if I needed to beg. You practically jumped at the opportunity for adventure." His eyes softened and he turned to look at the children playing quietly in the drawing room across from the kitchen. His oldest was huddled with a blanket next to Lovino watching his youngest play with Feliciano. Apparently they were playing house where Ludwig was the daddy, Feli the mommy and Gilbert was their child. Lovino, who refused to be anything related to the _blonde potato eater_, was the dog.

Wolfgang sighed, "Do they know?"

"What," asked Romulus without turning away from the cute scene. Lovi had tried to bite Ludwig's hand when the little German placed a bowl with doggy biscuits, cookies really, in front of him.

"That they're not going to come along."

The older Italian closed his eyes sadly and shook his head, "I don't know what's on the other side of that ocean, amico. Honestly, I don't know why you're even taking Ludwig. Why not leave him here with Gilbert?"

"The only reason Gilbert is staying is because he is ill. If he was healthy I would be bringing him along as well." Wolfgang snorted when Feli flicked his brother on the nose and fretted over his blushing husband. He turned to his friend, "The king said that all that land is rich and perfect for colonizing—"

"Land has to be conquered first," interrupted Romulus. "And what the hell does he know? Christopher said that there were people on that land. Savages. I for one don't want to expose my boys to such a thing. Not until I'm guaranteed that they'll be as far from our colonies as possible." Picking up their dishes, the Italian put them in the dish basin, "Besides, it's not like we're not coming back. I say let me build our home first _then_ bring the kids."

Wolfgang got up to help him wash, "And _I_ say bring them along and be done with it. Don't forget that it was my kin who actually discovered that side of the world first. I've heard stories that the people there are not so bad and can be kind of shown kindness."

"And _that_ is exactly why my people are credited with discovery of the new world and not yours."

While the two men looked over their contract and discussed the voyage in further detail, the four children continued to play. Gilbert let out a sneeze and miserably wiped at his nose with the blanket. Lovi made a face, "That's gross. You're not supposed to use that to clean your nasties. Fratello! Tell him not to clean his nasties on our blankie."

Feli crawled over to the older boy and wiped at his nose with a cloth before tossing it into a bin, "Doggie is right, Gill. That's not clean. You'll stay sick if you're not clean."

"But I'm cold and comfy here," whined Gilbert, "I don't want to get up every time I need to clean my nose."

"Listen to Feli," scolded Ludwig. He handed him a small pouch filled with white cloth squares, "Here and don't blow your nose on their blankie."

"Shit, he can keep the damn thing," muttered Lovino earning a gasp from both Ludwig and Feli.

The two boys stared at him with wide eyes while Gilbert simply cackled, "You totally said a bad word."

"Yeah, so? I've heard worse from Lars down the street."

"You shouldn't curse, Lovi," said Feli, "Doggies don't curse 'cause it's not nice."

Lovi tugged at his pretend tail, which was really his black scarf, from out of his pants and threw it aside, "Yeah, well, I'm not really a dog, idiot. Also, I'm bored. Let's play something else."

"Like what," asked Ludwig feeling a little sad that he couldn't pretend to be Feli's husband anymore. He pulled off his black hat and sat next to his brother.

"I don't know…how about we pretend to be sun gods?"

"Sun gods?"

Feli clapped his hands, "Oh, yes! It's cause we are descendants of sun gods, grandpa said so." The Italian got up and rushed to his grandfather's chest. He quickly unlocked it and stood on his tip toes to dig inside, the hem of his white night gown rising enough for his bloomers to peak through.

Lovino tossed a cookie at both Gilbert and Ludwig, "Oi, don't look at him you perverted imbeciles!"

"Ve, don't be mean, Lovi," said Feli as he came back with a parchment. He rolled it and inside was a drawing of a sun encasing the letter V. Smiling brightly, Feli traced it with his finger, "See? Grandpa says this is our family symbol. We're sun people! Hehe~"

"Our family symbol is an eagle," said Gilbert proudly. "That's cool cause that means we were meant to be, Feli."

"Ve?"

Lovi sputtered out, "What the hell are you talking about? What do either of them have to do with each other?"

"Well, if you think about it, the sun is in the sky and eagles fly in the sky. The eagle will fly as long as there are sun rays warming his feathers."

Feli thought about it before nodding, "Ok. We'll warm your feathers if you guys promise to always fly next to us."

"Deal!" Ludwig shoved his chubby hand out to shake on it but Lovi pushed it away, "What—"

"You can't promise something like that," said the older boy. "You're leaving with your dad and our grandpa tomorrow. How can you promise to always fly next to Feli if you're leaving?"

"Oh…well, it doesn't matter because I promise to come back." Determination filled Ludwig's baby blue eyes, "I promise, Feli."

The Beilschmidts stayed the night with the Vargas. It was more convenient that way and Wolfgang figured that if he was going to have to wake up Romulus that it would be best if he was already inside the house so that he wouldn't have to break in through the window…again. He and his children retreated to the spare room while Romulus tucked in his grandsons.

The next day everyone got up before the sun had started to rise. They gathered their things and made their way to the local orphanage ran by Elizabeta and her husband. Magyar, her uncle, was a good friend of Wolfgang and had offered to watch over the children while he and Romulus were away.

Lovino glared at the door while his grandfather kissed his forehead, "Don't be sad, nipote."

"I'm not sad," spat the eight year old with tears in his eyes. "Why are you even going on that dumb old voyage?"

"I'm going for us. If we can get that land into Spanish hands then we will be rewarded with plots. Could you imagine how wonderful that would be?" Romulus reached over and kissed Feli as well, "I'll be back before you know it and then we can all go to our new home. It's only going to be for a year, boys."

The sound of sniffing pulled the man's attention towards a weeping Feliciano. He'd wrapped his arms around Romulus' leg, "We'll miss you grandpa."

"And I'll miss you two. Don't worry little ones. Elizabeta promised to take good care of you and Gilbert." Romulus took out a small leather pouch and pulled out two small necklaces, "I have a gift for you." Inside were two rings on golden chains. They were far too large for their tiny fingers so they put them around their necks.

Feli gasped, "They have our family symbol!"

Raising his hand, Romulus showed that he was wearing the same ring, "It's so that we always remember that we will always have each other no matter how far away we may be." He tossed his bag over his shoulder and handed another pouch of gold coin to the young brunette woman, "This is for any expenses they may need. Please, I'm counting on you to keep my boys safe and out of trouble."

"Me too," said Wolfgang after hugging his oldest son one last time and gently nudging him towards Rodrich, "Keep an eye out for them."

Elizabeta smiled, "They will be just fine with us. You two have nothing to worry about."

"Danke." Bells began to ring from the docks signifying that the ship was being prepared for departure. Sighing, the German picked up his things, "We'll be on our way then. Be good, Gilbert. Listen to what they tell you and stay out of trouble."

The albino sneezed before nodding, "Ok, vati." He hugged Ludwig and grinned, "Try to have fun even if your awesome big brother isn't there."

Rolling his eyes, Ludwig hugged him, "I'll try." He turned to Feli who was trying his hardest not to cry and smiled, "Remember our promise? I'll be back."

"Ve…"

Blushing, he pulled out a small painting of a sleeping Feli, "Look, that way I can still fly beside you even if you're not next to me."

"Aw…I wanted to give you something else to remember me by."

"What?"

Feli shoved his small push broom forward, "This." His brother rolled his eyes at the gift but that didn't seem to bother the younger boys.

Ludwig tucked the portrait into his shirt and took the broom, "But this is your favorite. Are you sure?"

"Si…only now it's not fair. What do _I_ get to remember you by?"

"Oh, well, what do your people usually give when their friends are going away."

Feli tapped his chin in thought, "A kiss I think."

"I see." Ludwig glanced around to make sure Lovino wasn't watching before inching towards his friend. He didn't really know where to kiss him but remembered seeing the people that were going on the voyage kiss their loved ones on the lips. It was quick and simple. Just a peck before the two pulled away.

"Why are you crying," asked Feli. "Did it hurt?"

The young German shook his head, "Nein." He toyed with his hat before smiling, "Well, I'll see you when I come back, ja?"

"Si!" Gentle arms wrapped around Feli's waist and before he knew it, he was placed on Rodrich's shoulders. He waved to his grandpa and Ludwig, "I'll make lots and lots of sweets for you for when you return! Be safe and don't get sick. If you get sick, remember to stay clean!"

Even Wolfgang cracked a smile at that. He waved back to the children and to Gilbert who was embarrassed at having to hold onto Elizabeth's hand. Romulus—god help him—Romulus was practically hanging off the mast as he shouted promises to his grandchildren that he'd be back for him. As for Ludwig, well, he tried to look over the rail to wave goodbye to his brother and friends but was far too short. His father took pity and picked him up, placing him on his hip so that he could see the others, "Will you be ok without your little friend, Ludwig?"

"Ja, I think so." The child clutched the small broom closer to him, "We'll see each other again someday."

~.~

**3 months later**

Twigs crunched under bare feet as a family of three ran through the jungle. Angry shouts echoed through the trees demanding that they cease their fleeing and face their sacrificial duties with honor. The father caught the smell of sea salt and urged his wife to run towards the beach where he had a small boat waiting for them. Antonio tightened his arms around his mother and glanced over her shoulder in time to see the city's guards take aim with their spear.

"Mama," he yelped. His father pushed her down and through his own before speeding up. They could hear the waves break on the shore line. Now all they had to do was—the family froze.

There on the beach were the remains of a grand ship. Bodies littered the beach, some dressed in strange clothes of various colors. Behind them, they could hear a sharp intake of breath as the guards momentarily forgot that they were supposed to apprehend the family.

"What the hell happened here," asked one of the guards. They pushed back the family and went to investigate.

As his parents murmured to each other about what would happen once they were returned back to El Dorado, Antonio squirmed out of his mother's arms. He wiped his eyes in hopes that his mother wouldn't see that he was frightened. If she did, no doubt she would try something stupid and make another run for it to spare him from the high priest demand that all children born on Uo must be sacrificed to appease the sky gods or else they would eat their sun instead.

He stared at the bodies in front of them in curiosity. A redhead in particular caught his eye. His eyes were half open revealing a rich amber color that was beginning to turn milky with the absence of life. Antonio noticed that he was clutching something to his chest and gently pulled it away from his vice grip. Green eyes widened at the image of Lovino and Feli dressed in white gowns smiling. Well, Feli was smiling, Lovi was glaring at whoever had created the painting.

Antonio couldn't help but smile, "He looks like a tomato. So cute!" The young brunette stuffed the picture into his satchel and crept spared a glance to his parents to make sure that they were still busy talking to one another. He crept to one of the smaller ones dressed in black only to jump back when it moved, "Papa, this one's alive!"

Grains of sand stuck to every available patch of skin on Ludwig's tiny body. Groaning miserably, he cuddled the remains of his push broom closer to himself as he tried to force the memories of what happened out of his mind. Their voyage had been great until they unexpectedly sailed right into a storm. Romulus had tried to convince the captain of an alternate route but he hadn't listened. He doubted that there were any other survivors.

Ludwig rolled onto his back and blinked his eyes open when a shadow came over his face. When his vision came into focus, he found himself staring into the face of a young boy. He yelped, "Wh-who are you? And where the heck are you're pants?!" He frowned when the boy didn't say anything and insisted at staring at his hair.

Reaching out, Antonio tried to pat Ludwig's hair but the German squirmed away. In all his life, all nine years, he'd never seen anyone with hair made from gold. He raised his hands in front of him to show that he meant no harm, "It's ok. I won't hurt you."

"What?" Ludwig shook his head, "I don't understand." He flushed as the kid tried to touch him again and swung Feli's broom in front of him, "What are you doing? Stop that!"

Antonio's parents heard his screams and rushed to the two children. Their reaction was much like their son's and that unnerved Ludwig greatly. He could practically see their minds rushing as they took in the sight of him.

"Mom, did you see his eyes," whispered Antonio. "They're pretty. Don't they look like sapphires? And his hair is gold. Gold!"

"I can see that, son." Antonio's mom knelt down and extended her hand out to Ludwig with a gentle smile, "Hi, little one. Don't be scared." Her face warmed considerably when the boy cautiously accepted her hand, her eyes getting a gleam of cunning when she saw what was in his palm. "When they take us back, let me do the talking. They aren't going to kill us."

When the guards came back they were shocked to see Ludwig cradled in the mother's arms. He had broken down and cried until he fell asleep so he wasn't sure how he arrived to the city. All the German knew was that he was alone now and at the mercy of the strange people who rescued him. The family had been ushered to a temple by the guards where a dark skinned man dressed in colorful cloth smiled sadly, "I'm sorry, Tochtli."

"Don't be, Chief," said Antonio's father. He wrapped a protective arm around his trembling son, "but please don't think that we were running away from our duties."

Another man, this one shorter with a sharp nose and calculating eyes, rose an eyebrow, "Oh?"

The woman who'd been carrying Ludwig, Gupta he thinks he heard her husband call her, held him tighter, "No, sir. We were simply answering the call."

"…the call?"

"Mhm. You see, the gods sent our son a vision. They told him that the sea was going to give birth to a child. A child of the sun with eyes as beautiful as sapphires and hair made from precious gold and that he was to teach him the ways of the temple."

Itzcóatl's interest seemed piqued and he waved his hand for his manservant to bring him his sacred texts, "A child of the sea and sun. And why would they send this vision to your brat instead of me, the high priest? I speak for the gods, woman, not you." A heavy book was placed in his waiting hand and he thumbed through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

"Antonio is next in line to serve the temple of our creators, sir. Who else is better to teach this boy our ways so that he may be prepared to serve our Gods as they please?" Gupta and her husband held their breath as Itzcóatl read. They prayed that their lie would serve its purpose and keep their beloved child alive.

"What proof do you have that he is a son of the sun?"

Gupta gently coaxed Ludwig's fist open and in his palm rested Romulus' golden ring. Itzcóatl tried to take it but Ludwig's fist clenched shut and he brought it over his heart with a glare.

"Well, well," said Itzcóatl with a laugh, "it seems like…I've misread the stars." He slammed his book shut and pulled Ludwig away from Gupta, grimacing when the child started screaming in a mixture of German and Italian, "What language is he speaking?"

"It must be the language of the Gods," chirped Antonio innocently, making the chief stifle a laugh.

"Indeed." The priest handed Ludwig back over to Gupta where he clung to her and glared at Itzcóatl angrily, his push broom hanging off his back. "Well, we'll see if what you say is true. I'll convene with the stars tonight and if what you say is true then we must prepare for the Gods arrival."

Sensing the family's tension, Chief Máximo stood up, "Surely we should give them time to arrive. It could be years."

Itzcóatl scoffed, "I _know_. After all a mere minute for them could be decades for us mere mortals." He paced in thought before nodding, "Fine, your son will be spared but if I find out that this was all a lie, a mass sacrifice will be ordered and I'll make sure that everyone knows that it was you and your family's fault that the sky gods were cheated."

The family bowed to their chief and scurried back to their house. There they offered Ludwig a change of clothes but he refused. It wasn't descent he insisted but Gupta gave him a stern look and pointed to the dark blue cloth. At night, after refusing to eat, Ludwig stared out the window dressed in the blue cloth. His lower lip trembled as he thought about his dad. He'd fallen over board and Romulus had stuck by him, surviving long enough to get him to shore. Everything else was a blur to him but he knew that he was alone now. Burring his face in his hands, Ludwig sobbed.

Antonio heard the sobs and hopped out of his parents bed. He crept across the hall into Ludwig's room, "Hello?" The boy sighed when he didn't get a response and went back to get the picture he'd taken from the beach. Gathering his courage, Antonio climbed onto Ludwig's bed and touched his shoulder, "Don't cry. You're safe now."

Ludwig pulled his hands away and stared at Antonio in confusion, "I don't understand you." He was met with the same look of confusion, "Guess you don't understand me either…" The brunette bit his lip before presenting the painting to Ludwig. "Oh! Where did you find that? That was Romulus'"

"It's neat, huh? This dead guy had it. Maybe these are his kids?" Antonio pointed to the angry looking child excitedly, "Hey! Do you know who this one is?"

"That's Lovino," said Ludwig as he wiped his nose on his arm. Remembering what Feli told him, he winced and took his black robe to clean the muck away instead. "He's Feli's big brother."

"L-Lovino?"

"Hey, ja! Can you understand me?"

Antonio cocked his head to the side and shook his head before pointing back to Lovi, "Lovino?"

"Ja and this one is Feliciano. They're brothers."

"Feliciano…"

"Ja but don't get any ideas. Feli said that he's going to marry _me_ when we grow up. Lovi…well you can keep him. I don't really care."

Again Antonio tilted his head in confusion. Sighing he pointed to himself, "Antonio."

It didn't take Ludwig long to understand that the boy was giving him his name. A small smile blossomed on his face as he pointed to himself, "Ludwig."

"Ludwig, huh?" Antonio grinned, "Nice to meet you! I can tell that we're going to be good friends. After all you did save me." He reached over and tried to hug the blonde but Ludwig scurried out of his reach. It didn't bother him though, perhaps it was a cultural thing. Shrugging, Antonio leaned back on his arms and nodded out the window, "I think you're going to love it here, Ludwig. El Dorado is a beautiful city and our chief is _really_ nice. Don't worry about all that talk about sacrifices. Because of you me and my family will be spared from any future reapings."

He noticed Ludwig finally taking in the scenery out his window and his smile grew, "It's amazing, huh? Papa said we can take you to go look around your new home." Antonio patted the boy's shoulder then motioned around him, "Home."

Ludwig didn't say anything to that. Instead he reached over for his push broom and curled in for the night. The next day Tochtli and Antonio showed Ludwig around as they ran errands for Gupta.

Much to the young German's surprise, the people all smiled at him and offered greetings in their language. The gentle tone they used on him helped keep his nerves under control. Why on earth were they so kind? Shaking his head, Ludwig figured it was best this way. In a way, they reminded him of Romulus and Feliciano. What more so intrigued him was the fact that the whole place seemed to be made of gold.

Antonio's father looked much like he did with the exception that he had long black hair that he kept in a ponytail. His kind brown eyes looked down to Ludwig as he motioned to his city, "Our glorious city was built by the divinity of gods who saw fit to bestow the gift of a paradise, peaceful and harmonious, upon us mere mortals below."

Giggling when a large bird plucked Ludwig's hat from his head, Antonio coaxed it back down with bird feed so that his companion could retrieve it, "They made El Dorado the magnificent and golden one thousand years ago."

Ludwig stood on his tip toes in hopes to grab his hat and was suddenly lifted high enough to do so. He glanced over his shoulder and paled when he saw that it was Chief Máximo. The heavyset man was now sporting a brown head band to keep his chocolate colored dreadlocks out of his face. His dark amber eyes glowed cheerfully as he lowered him back down, "But all of this was granted for only one millennium."

The German watched as Chief Máximo patted the bird gently, "I know my legacy is to fulfill my promise to my people who have trusted me to ensure that the Gods will approve of us still. So don't worry little one. No god is willing to the slaying of innocents just to appease them. I've managed to get our illustrious high priest to cut back on the sacrifices."

Antonio whooped in joy, "That's great news, chief!"

"I'm glad you approve. But I hope that you understand, Tochtli, Itzcóatl is expecting the arrival of our creators. Whether that's tomorrow or in a decade from now doesn't matter."

The noir haired man rubbed his arm in thought, "I understand. Don't worry, Chief, everything will be fine."

"For all our sakes, I hope so."

Antonio pulled Ludwig towards the river and pointed excitedly at the baby turtles. Ludwig sighed in exasperation and reminded him that he couldn't understand a word. They would later spend the rest of their childhood learning each other's languages, and Ludwig the ways of El Dorado. He would also later learn what his supposed role as a servant for the gods would entail much to his horror.

~.~

**In Spain Ten Months Later**

"Draw a circle that's the earth, draw a circle that's the earth I am Italian," sang Feliciano happily as he helped Elizabeta bake some cookies. The king had sent out another ship with supplies to those who sailed a few months ago with his grandfather and he was sure they would all come back. Hence the baking.

A knock to the door made Feli squeal in joy and hop off from his stool, "Ve~ They're here! They're here, Lovi! Gilbert, they're back!"

Rodrich huffed, "Calm down, Feli." He patted the boy's head and moved to open the door but instead of being greeted by Romulus and Wolfgang, they were face to face with a messenger.

The news of what became of the ship and her passengers devastated the poor children. Gilbert refused to believe it happened and locked himself in his room. Feliciano, however, took it the hardest. That night, Lovi found him in their shared room staring at the ring their grandfather gave him, "It's not possible, fratello. Tell me this is a nightmare. Tell me that they'll come back like they promised. Please."

Lovi pulled his little brother into his arms, "I can't do that, fratellino…I'm sorry." He let Feli muffle his cries in his clothes and not once complained about how dirty it was. It took a long while for Feli to calm down but when he did, Lovino pulled him away and looked him in the eye, "But I _can_ promise that you and I will never be apart. We're all we have now—"

"What about, G-Gilbert," asked Feli with a hiccup.

The older boy waved the thought away, "Who cares? _You're_ the only one I care about from now on we'll depend on only each other to get by."

"You can't promise me that."

"Damn it, yes I can! You know why? Cause, I won't go anywhere unless you're with me. We'll be together forever! You'll see, Feli. You and me? We'll be the greatest pair in all of Spain! Everyone will know the names Lovino and Feliciano Vargas!" Lovi kissed the ring around his neck, "We're descendants from Sun Gods remember? What could possibly happen?"

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><p><strong>Hi, guys! It's been a while, huh? Here is the prologue for The Road to El Dorado. I'm sorry it took me a while, I'll admit that I was busy with another project but I'm ready to get the show on the road. Also, Halloween is just around the corner and I was wondering if you guys would like a scary story? I know it's a bit old but I swear I LOVED The Conjuring and I guess its the Hetalian in me but I swear when I saw it, I could only see the Nordics as the Family with England and America as the two that were helping them. I think it would be a fun thing.<br>**

**As for this story, I can't help it. I love me my Gerita but rest assured its main focus will be Spamano. As for **Tzekel-Kan**, I went with an OC for Mexico. His name is Aztec that means Obsidian Serpent and Antonio's dad's name is Aztec for Rabbit...oh! Also, Uo is the second month on the ancient calendar so I associated it with February which is Spain's birth month. **

**I think that's all I have to say for now. Here's hoping that I don't screw this up.**

**~Until Next Time**


	2. Destiny, Fate, and Fish!

**23- Lovino Vargas**

**21- Feliciano Vargas**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.**

~** Spain 15 Years Later **~

Feli stifled a yawn as he stretched. Blinking the sleep away, he rolled out of his futon and stumbled over to his makeshift bookshelf where he kept a box and his microscope. He pulled it down and carefully walked over to his bench near the window.

The Vargas brothers lived in a modest apartment hidden away from the city of Madrid. This was partly because Lovino had insisted on leaving the orphanage when he was fifteen. And of course where Lovi went his little brother was sure to go. Mostly though, it was because the older Italian's prophecy of everyone knowing their name came true.

In as little as a year, Lovino and Feliciano became notorious con men. Their first heist had been simple, Feli pretended that he had broken his leg and Lovino had managed to convince the local healer to help them. While the healer had been preoccupied with his younger brother, Lovi had stolen as much medicine as he could. They dropped some off at Magyar's orphanage and sold the rest. Later, Lovi had bought paint and blank canvases for his brother so that he could recreate some of the more famous paintings and sold them as originals to unsuspecting nobles.

Their favorite con, however, had been the time when they posed as girls and gone into a prep school where they stole the headmaster's prized golden bull horns. That same year they also posed as traveling musicians and where hired by an alchemist as entertainment for his fellow scientists at a convention in his villa. Feli had been enamored by all the ideas they had and the tales they told of a legendary city of gold in the new world. He remembered asking questions to which a young noire haired herbalist was a little too eager to answer.

Much to Lovi's dismay Feli had fallen in love that night. With science. And for that love, his brother often insisted that they to do heists in much more secured places for materials for him to tinker with in attempt to make gold. Of course, he hadn't been able to conjure the precious metal but that hadn't deterred him from making other things.

And that, Lovi found him liking a lot more. Not that he would openly admit it but he did like that Feli had developed a hunger for knowledge. So he accommodated his plans to make sure that Feli would always come back with at least a new book or material to play with.

As the years came and went, the duo was found by Gilbert, who had gone into the military, in Barcelona. Instead of turning them in however, he offered them the attic of his apartment. Lovino hadn't wanted to at first but soon gave into the albino's pleas. Gilbert's logic was that they would be safe because no one would ever suspect that two wanted criminals would be housed by a member of his majesties guard.

Gilbert knocked on their door before letting himself in, "Morning, guys! How did you sleep?" He chuckled softly at Lovi's grumbles and walked up to Feli, "You're up earlier than your brother. Kesesese~ that's a first."

"Don't stand too close, Gil," said Feli as he pulled out small rounded plates, "These are bacteria samples I grew."

At that Gilbert jumped back and wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Why the hell are you growing that shit still? Didn't I tell you to stop?"

"No, it's ok. Look it, this green stuff stopped the bacteria from growing. Oh, this is so exciting!" Feli quickly reached out for his journal and pen before scribbling down notes.

Curious, Gilbert sat aside the tray and peered over Feli's shoulder, "What is it?"

"I have no idea but whatever it is, kept the bacteria from growing."

"Well, where did you get it?"

"Ve, it must've flown in through the window while I was trying to grow this other thing." He pointed to a thick green book, "Could you get me that please? I want to finish this up before the gel starts to melt completely."

From across the room Lovino stirred awake, "Ngh…what's with all the damn noise?"

"What exactly are you doing, Feli," asked Gilbert as he handed the book to his friend.

"Remember that time Lovi and I conned this herbalist? The one who claimed that he had a healing elixer?"

Lovi huffed, "That was the lamest thing ever."

His brother continued as if he hadn't heard him, "Well turns out that he wasn't completely wrong. I borrowed some books from the book store and—I'm going to return them Gilly!—and I read about all these neat things called fungi and microorganisms. Did you know that people think that's what makes people sick?"

"Yeah go figure."

"Well anyway, I read that and this other book on herbal medicine from east and thought well…fungi are kind of like plants, right? So I'm thinking that whatever this green goo is must be a fungi based on it's growing habits."

Gilbert sighed and sat down next to Lovi so that he could eat his breakfast, "That doesn't really explain what you're doing, Feli."

Swallowing a slice of orange, Lovi said, "He's making a salve. That green muck keeps that gross smelling shit from growing which means if you put it on a wound, it could keep that gross smelling shit from growing on you."

"Ew."

"Yup."

Feli pouted as he scraped the goo into a jar filled with premade generic salve. He couldn't help but think how Ludwig wouldn't have thought he was gross. He threw the plates into a bucket of concentrated whiskey and washed his hands before joining his brother and friend. They quietly munched on their breakfast, each lost in their own thoughts.

"I'm leaving today," said Gilbert finally. He looked at both Italians and smiled, "I was picked to go on the voyage to the new world with Cortes. Well, technically I'm not on his ship. I was put under his second in command but –" He stopped talking as soon as he saws Feliciano's lip tremble. Reaching out, he patted his arm, "H-hey, don't cry. It'll be ok."

"You don't know that," whispered the young Italian. He played with the golden ring he still wore around his neck, "Don't go, Gilbert."

"I have to, buddy. Don't worry. Things are different from back then. We've gotten smarter with our navigating and we'll—hey, look at me—we'll be fine."

"Can't we come too, then? I've always wanted to go on an adventure! Think about all the neat things I can find out there. All the different plants and herbs to make medicines!"

"You know you guys can't go anywhere near the militia." Gilbert reached out and patted Lovi's shoulder as well, "Don't worry, I'll be back to bug you guys before you know it!"

Lovi shrugged, "Whatever." His eyes lit up suddenly, "Hey! If you guys are leaving, does that mean that you guys are taking the losers from that lame nautical school with you as the crew?"

"Excuse you," huffed Gilbert as he stood up with the tray and made his way downstairs, "_I_ was one of those losers that went to that lame nautical school, remember?" He stopped half way and looked over his shoulder wryly, "Why? You're not going to do what I think you're going to do are you?"

Putting on his most innocent face, Lovi smiled stood up and stretched showing off his family's seal tattooed onto his hip, "I wasn't aware you had the gift of foresight."

"With you two, one doesn't need it." Gilbert shook his head with a sigh and continued down the stairs so that he could feed Gilbird, "Just, whatever you do, try not to get yourselves into trouble. I won't be here to watch over you."

Feli smiled, "Ve, don't worry, Gill. I promise that Lovi and I won't get into trouble." His smile turned sheepish when Gilbert looked at him with a single raised eyebrow. He nudged at his brother who was pulling on his shirt, "Right, Lovi?"

"Hah? Oh! Yeah, we'll be on our best behavior."

"You better be," said Gilbert. He took out his canary and let him stretch his wings before letting him nestle in his hair, "Well, I'm off. See you two dorks when I get back."

Lovi waited until Gilbert was well down the street before tossing his brother a shirt, "Here, hurry up and get dressed!"

"Ve? But we told—"

"Do you seriously think that we're going to let those sailor geeks leave Spain with their pockets full?" The older Italian dug through his chest, tossing clothes and nick nacks aside until he found what he was looking for. "They love to gamble before setting sail. _You_ know it and _I_ know it. Besides, it's not like they're going to need money in the new world."

"If you say so…"

"Of course I do, idiot. Come one, lets go."

Feli pocketed his salve after tugging on a dark blue shirt and followed after his brother, "But what are we going to do?" He gasped when Lovi jiggled the small leather pouch before smirking, "We'll leave it to the fates to enrich our lives then, shall we?"

"Fates? Fratellino, no one can enrich our lives better than we can. Come on, I have a plan."

* * *

><p>A large crowd had gathered by the docks just as the sun had made its way to noon. They watched as crew members loaded supplies onto the ships that would take Cortes and his men across the Pacific. Gilbert leaned against a water fountain and listened with the rest of the crowd as a large commanding man rode a black stead into the center of the square.<p>

He dipped a silver chalice into the water fountain and raised it to the people, "Today, we sail to conquer the New World. For Spain, for glory, for gold!" The black Andalusian neighed when the crowd cheered at his rider's words. Cortes pulled at the reigns, "Johan, eyes forward."

Gilbert felt his lips twitch at the sight of Cortes struggling with his horse when. He heard Francis snort next to him and grinned, "You ready for an adventure?"

"Of course, mon ami." Francis smirked, "Do you think we'll find anything of value?"

"Who knows," said the shorter man with a shrug. He pushed himself off the fountain and motioned for his friend to follow, "I don't really care but for our crew's sake, I hope so. Cortes is a heartless bastard on his best of days. I'd hate to see him if we have to come back empty handed."

"He's not so bad. I haven't seen him discipline his horse so perhaps he's not all that horrible."

"Which ship are you on?"

"…his."

"Kesesese~ Sucks for you! I'm stuck with his second in command-Mr. Only-Gold-Will-Remove-The-Stick-I-Have-Wedged-In-My-Ass."

"Oh, you mean Lars?"

"Ja, I swear that kid grew up to be a real hard ass."

Francis chuckled, "To be fair you did hit on his sister."

Gilbert grumbled half-heartedly, "That was once and I was only a kid myself. Whatever, come on, let's go get some real food while we still can. The crap we're going to be eating for the next few months is going to be a real freaking nightmare. They're not packing wurst at all!"

"Come, mon ami, it'll go by fast. You'll see."

They walked past a wanted sign for Lovino and Feliciano. Francis shifted his knapsack to his other shoulder as he pulled the sign off, "Are they going to be ok?"

"They should be. I made them promise to stay out of trouble." Lifting a brow, his best friend gave him a look that made him chuckle, "I did the same thing. Well, even if they _do_ get into trouble, I'm sure it won't be something that they won't be able to get themselves out of. Those two are many things but let me tell ya, they're pretty damn resourceful."

In an alley just next to the restaurant Gilbert and Francis walked into, Lovi and Feliciano were playing against a group of sailors that were going to head out with Cortes later that day. Lovi tossed his red dice and called out, "Seven!"

When the dice slowed to a stop on his number, Feli whooped in joy, "All right!"

"Yeah!" The older Italian high-fived his brother before laughing, "That's how we do it, bastardi~" He snatched his dice back up and danced around Feliciano as the latter played on his newly acquired bandolin.

"Tons of gold for you," sang Feliciano as he sashayed his hips to his tune.

The sailors looked to each other in confusion. How the hell were these two bozos beating them?! A dark haired sailor, Bernardo, huffed, "Hey."

But the Vargas brothers were too far into their celebration to pay him any mind. Lovi flicked his hips to the side and made Feliciano lose his balance momentarily before the younger retaliated with a side kick to the older one's rear, "Tons of gold for me~"

"Hey!"

"Tons of gold for we," sang both at the same time before finally giving into Bernardo's insistent calls.

"One more roll," demanded the sailor. His friends around them glowered at the Italian duo who exchanged glances before bursting into a fit of laughter. "What's so funny?"

Lovino spoke through his giggles, "Boy, are you stupid. You're broke! What the hell are you going to bet with?"

The sailors dug into their pockets in hopes to find a coin or anything else they could spare for their comrade. Bernardo raised a hand to halt their rummaging before smirking and reaching into his pocket, "You bet your sweet ass I do." He pulled out a scroll and unrolled it, "I've got this!"

"Psh, what's that? A map?"

"Si. It's a map to the wonders of the new world."

"What the hell do I want that for?"

But at the mention of the new world, Feli's eyes lit up. He tugged his brother forward and took the map from Bernado, "Wait a minute now, let's take a look." With another hard pull, he managed to bring Lovi closer.

Groaning, Lovi glanced over the map, "Excuse us, for one moment, please." He watched as his brother's eyes flitted around the details, a finger pad running along the intricate designs painted onto the parchment.

Feli scraped a flake of paint and tasted it before grinning, "Lovi, I want this!"

"What the hell for?"

"It's real, fratello. Remember that job we did for the alchemist? What that guy said about El Dorado? And how he said if anyone could find it, it would be me?"

"That asshat only said that because he wanted to get in your pants." Lovi's face darkened, "And if memory serves me correctly, he did."

Waving the thought away, Feli shook his head, "No, he didn't. I just took him to his bed room and gave him warm milk with mint and sleeping powder. Then I took his money and microscope but that's beside the point. Fratello, this could be our destiny! Our fate! "

"Feli, if I believed in fate I wouldn't be playing with loaded dice," hissed Lovino. He shook his head, "How the hell would we even get there?"

"Details!"

"I'm sorry but I'm not going to risk our earnings on this stupid thing."

"B-but…" Lips drooping down in a pout, Feli widened his eyes and made his lower lip tremble, sniffling as if where—

"Don't do that!" Lovi glanced away but it was as if Feli's whining was forcing him to look back, "Stop with the faces, fratello, my answer is still _no_." The younger Italian batted his eye lashes and smiled before pawing at his brother's shoulder in a way that he knew that would get him to bend. They yelped when Bernardo suddenly ripped the map from their hands.

"So," said the Spaniard, "what do you say? My map against your cash."

The Italian brothers exchanged glances, Feli a hopeful one while Lovi simply rolled his eyes with a sigh. He pulled out his dice again, "Fine, _Bernard_. You're on!" He ran his tongue along his lip in mock concentration as he rolled the small red cubes in his hands.

Bernardo reached out and stopped Lovi's hands, "_Not_ with those." He snapped his fingers and his fellow sailor pulled out a leather pouch with blue marbled cubes, "This time we'll use my dice. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Uh…n-no, of course not." Lovino pocketed his dice again and shot a glare over his shoulder to Feli, mouthing, "_I'm going to kill you."_

Feli smiled sheepishly, _"_Ve~" Clearing his throat he started to play on his mandolin again to rev up the suspense. He pranced over to a couple of girls and winked playfully rousing giggles from the group who were already well aware of how flirty the Italian could be.

The older Vargas went up to another cluster and offered them the dice, "Will you do me the honors, bella?" When the leader of the clique turned her nose up at him, Lovi's grin fell. Clicking his tongue, he blew on them for luck and shot another glare at his brother, "Stop that!" The dice clicked softly as he rolled them in between his palms once more, "Alright, show…me…seven!"

As soon as the dice leapt from his hands, Lovi covered his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see the outcome. He would have to come up with a new scam to get money for their months without Gilbert. The albino had said that he had left some money in the emergency jar but Lovi refused to touch it. It was bad enough they were living with the guy.

Beside him Feli watched anxiously as the dice bounced on the cobbled ground, rolling teasingly between faces until one of them landed on a three. The sailors held their breath as the last one seemed to teeter between a four and another three until it finally settled and four little white dots signified that the Vargas siblings had won yet again.

Lovi peeked through his fingers, "S-seven?"

"All right," cried Feli as he dove in for the map. He pocketed it with smirk, "Ve, grazie, bello." He played his bandolin merrily as his brother dove in for the coins

"Well, there you have it, bastardi," cooed Lovi through his laughter. He collected all the coins into a bag, "It was such a pleasure doing business with you. Don't worry; I hear you don't need gold where you're going."

Bernardo glared as he pocketed the money, his glare turning almost murderous when Lovi's red dice rolled out of his shirt and landed on seven. Before the Italian could get them, the sailor picked them up and threw them on the floor, his comrades gasping when they landed on seven again. He repeated the action over and over again before growling, "I knew it. Your dice are loaded!"

"Merde," cursed Lovi under his breath, the clogs in his mind rolling as he worked to come up with a plan. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw more people gather around to see what the ruckus was about. He reached out and plucked the instrument from his brother's hands, "How could you? I thought we were going to do things differently from now on!"

Feli cocked his head in confusion, "Ve? What did I do?"

"Don't be coy, bastard! You know what you did. You gave me loaded dice!"

He winked at his brother and Feliciano instantly knew what game they were going to play. Tossing the instrument aside, he pushed his brother out of the alley, "You dare blame me? It was your idea!"

Lovi landed into the buff chest piece of a local guard. Tensing at the stern expression, the elder Vargas pushed himself away and pointed at Feli, "He gave me loaded dice! Guard, arrest him."

"Me? _He_ was the one who was cheating. Arrest _him_! He tricked these sailors and took their money."

Scoffing, Lovi pushed Feli back, "Oh, so _I'm_ the thief? Take a good look in the mirror, fratellino."

Feli shrugged his brother's hand off his arm and reached out to pull the guard's sword loose from its sheath, "Give the money back, fratello, or I'll be forced to use this. En garde!"

"En garde yourself. I will give you the honor of a quick and painless death." Lovi reached blindly behind him and griped at a handle, tugging triumphantly only for his smirk to fall at the sight of what he got. Clearing his throat, Lovino put the mall dagger back, "But not with that."

His brother chuckled and tossed him another sword, "I prefer to fight fairly, Lovi." He rushed forward and parried with Lovi's blade, "Well, any last words, fratellone?"

"I will cut you to ribbons, fool!"

Pushing himself off, Feli ran edge of his sward along Lovi's, "Such mediocrity, Lovi."

"Enough! Let your sword do the talking." Lovino launched himself in offensive lashing while Feli easily defended his blows.

"I will, fratello and it will be loquacious to a fault!"

"Careful, Feli. What did I tell you about using big words?"

"Not to because your tiny brain can't handle it?"

"Oh, you fucker!" Grinning, Lovi chased his brother around the small courtyard, "You stupid, mincing, fencing, ass! You fight like Elizabeta!"

"I fought Elizabeta _and_ I beat her!"

"Sure you don't mean Roderich?"

A larger crowd started to form around the two arguing Italians, hungry for a fight to break out. Curious patrons from the restaurant glanced over from their meals, Gilbert and Francis being two of them. The albino widened his eyes before face palming, "Those two, I swear."

"Honhonhon," chuckled Francis, "I guess fighting each other must be one of their resourceful tactics, huh?"

"What are you—oi!" Gilbert and his bird jumped out of the chair when the two squabbling brothers jumped onto his table with blades swinging at each other. He watched as they climbed up a stack of cargo boxes and onto the roof.

"You're an ass, Feliciano," shouted Lovino without heat, his eyes shining brightly in the setting sun and the corners of his mouth lifted.

Feli grinned back, "Well, I learned it from the best, Lovino." He dug his sword into the red tile on the roof to loosen them.

As Lovi fell on his back, he deflected his brother's attacks the best he could. He hissed under his breath, "Watch the curl, you idiot. The curl!"

"Oops," whispered Feli back, "Mi dispiace, Lovi." With a flick of the wrist, he disarmed his brother and pointed his sword to his neck. The crowd shouted at the young auburn haired man to kill his opponent but Feli simply helped his brother up and smiled cheerfully down at them, "Signiori e Signire, we've decided it's a draw."

Lovi took the swords and tossed them back down, "Grazie for coming. You've all been great," he said as he pulled out several more pouches of gold he managed to pickpocket while sparring with his brother. Shaking them a few times to annoy the crowd he let Feli pocket them before waving, "See you fuckers soon!"

"Ve~ Ciao!" The Vargas brothers jumped off the roof and landed in a fit of giggles when they heard the crowd howl curses at them on the other side. Feli leaned back on his arms and smiled at Lovi, "That was great, fratello!"

"Yeah, it was alright, wasn't it?" Lovi reached over to ruffle his brother's hair, freezing when he felt hot breath slap the back of his neck followed by a snort. He shuffled closer to his brother as slowly as he could, "Fuck me, this is bad." Just a foot away from them was a full grown bull. It's massive horns gleamed dangerously in the setting sun and it's golden eyes glimmered threateningly.

"W-we probably should've kept our swords."

"Ya think?"

"What do we do?"

The bull snorted again, tail flicking back and forth in irritation at having his lunch disturbed. Lovi tried not to look at it in the eye, "Uh, yeah, ok. I've got a plan."

"What is it?"

"You pet him."

Feli nodded and reached out slowly, "Right, and?"

"And I'll… run!" Lovi pushed himself up and leapt over his brother.

The bull looked from him to Feli and back again before digging at the dirt in preparation to charge. Feli yelped and ran after his brother, "No fair, Lovi! Wait for me!"

Lovi bent forward to let Feli climb up his back and over the gate, reaching up after him so that he could pull him up as well. They were just over the edge when the bull crashed with the wooden gate. The older Italian gripped his brother tightly and pulled him back down, "Run, Feli! Come on."

They raced down the coble stoned alley towards the courtyard hand in hand so to not lose each other. Bernardo and his fellow sailors came around the corner with scowls on their faces. The dark haired Spaniard caught sight of the brothers, "There they are, boys. Get 'em!"

"Oh, boy." Lovi spun around and tugged Feli into smaller alley to their left.

The bull dug its feet into the ground as the group of sailors nearly collided with him. He snorted at them, watching with unamused eyes as they quickly turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Gilbert and Francis walked past them and shook their heads before making their way to the docks. The bull snorted again and followed after the Italians instead.

"I-is he still after us, fratellone," gasped Feliciano.

"I aint looking! Shut up and keep run—oh _come_ _on_!"

A group of guards blocked them off and drew their swords out, "Halt, in the name of the king!"

"Yeah, no. Fratello, engage evasive maneuver number twenty-three," grunted Lovino before ducking through a kitchen door to his left.

"Okie dokie." Feli did the same into his right, winking at the girl stirring at a pot. Outside he could hear the guards crying out in fear and the sound of metal clashing followed by the bellow of an angry bull. Grinning, the Italian ran out through the front door at the same time Lovi rushed out of the home he'd had entered.

"I got that girl's pigeon info."

"I got some herbs~"

"Jesus, Feli, seriously?"

"Ve~"

Shaking his head, he pointed to a low roof and Feli leapt onto it. Together the grabbed onto a rope being used to hang laundry and jumped, using the momentum to get to higher ground. Arrows narrowly missed them as more guards attempted to bring them down. Feli clutched his arm with a whimper, "They got me, Lovi."

"What? Let me see." The older Italian pulled up his brother's sleeve and tsked before patting it, "You're ok. It's only a scratch. Now come on!" He pushed his brother forward at the sound of the guards approaching.

They ran to the edge of the roof and cursed. Behind them the guards were getting closer. Feli looked below them in hopes to find something soft to land in but only saw twin barrels filled to the brim with water. Biting his lip he nodded to myself, "I bet we can make that."

"Uh…" Lovi shook his head, "I'll give you that girl's pigeon info if we don't."

"Ok!" Feli grinned and jumped, pulling his brother with him. To Lovi's dismay, they did in fact make it safely into the barrels. Cursing his luck, he balled up the piece of parchment and threw it into his brother's barrel before closing it with a lid. He tossed his lid over his own barrel just as the guards looked over the roof.

The water inside barrel taste so sweet to Feli so he gulped as much as he could. Next to him he could hear his brother gag. Smacking his lips, he asked, "You ok?"

"There's fucking fish in this damn barrel…"

"Really? Mine is really yummy." Feli dipped his face back into the water and blew bubbles, "Ve, I like it, when we get out we should take one back to the apartment."

Lovi was about to roll his eyes but stopped himself knowing that it wouldn't be worth the effort. He'd just say yes like always. Sighing, he folded his legs up and tried not to breath so deeply let alone speak more than he had to less the disgusting flavored water make its way into his mouth. He leaned his head back and wondered if the guards had left yet. Perhaps they did.

"Oi, Feli, are you—" Whatever Lovi was about to ask was cut short by a mouth full of fish tasting water. He sputtered in disgust but more kept splashing onto his face. It wasn't until he heard the panicked whimpers of his brother that he realized that his barrel wasn't the only one that was causing a shift in the water.

"Lovi, what's happening?!"

"I don't—Oof!" They two brothers grunted as they felt the impact of their barrels landing on something hard, groaning in displeasure as their bodies were forced to tumble inside the small cramp place while the sailors rolled their barrels further onto the ship. When the movement stopped, Feli and Lovi pushed out the cork and took a deep breath of fresh air. Lovi gulped down the air before peeking out, "Ok, I think if we move quickly, we can jump out and make a run for the deck without anyone noticing."

"Ok, ok, good. That sounds good, fratello."

"On the count of three. Ready?"

"Ready."

"Ok. One-two-three!" Bernardo and Gilbert placed a heavy chest on top of the barrels just as the brothers tried to lift their lids up. The albino frowned at the barrels before his companion tugged on his sleeve so that he would follow. He dismissed the voices and went back down to get the last of their supplies.

The ships groaned as it sat sail, following after Cortes'. Gilbert waved goodbye to Elizabeta and Roderich who had come out to see him off, admittedly, a little saddened that his housemates hadn't shown up. He gently ran a gloved hand down Gilbird's feathery spine, "Those two…I hope they don't get themselves into too much trouble while I'm gone." Smiling, he turned on his heal to put his things away below deck before starting his chores.

Hours later, just as the crew was beginning to feel the summer chill of night, Gilbert and Bernardo moved the heavy chest from the barrels to take it below deck. Lovi sighed tiredly and whispered to his brother, "On three, fratellino."

"No," said Feliciano grumpily, "I'm tired and sleepy. We've been doing this for hours."

"Let's just try. On three, ok?"

"Ve…"

"One."

"…two."

"Three," they cried as they pushed on their aching legs, popping out of their barrels with happy grins that they were finally able to get out. They weren't met with the same expressions, however. The crew regarded them indifferently until they realized that they were the same Italian duo that cheated them out of their money.

Exchanging dark smirks, a group of sailors cracked their knuckles as the approached the brothers, making them cower back to the safety of their barrels. Before they knew it, Lovino and Feli were roughly pulled back out and clasped in heavy shackles before their pockets were searched for the sacks of gold. By the time Bernardo and Gilbert had made their way back onto the deck, Lovi and Feli both sported bruised faces. Gilbert forced himself not to react despite the angry twist in his belly, "What the hell is going on here!"

Bernardo snorted and took a sack of gold from a fellow sailor, "Thieves from the looks of it."

"Why are they bleeding?"

"Sir," said one of the sailors, "he bit us, sir. So we retaliated."

"I bit you," hissed Lovino as he tried to kick the one holding him up, "because you tried to take our rings!"

Feli struggled as well, "Those are ours! Our grandfather gave them to us!" He gasped when a sailor reached into his pants pocket and withdrew his salve, "Put that back!"

The sailor lifted the jar to his comrades in silent question. They shrugged in response so he took aim to toss it over board but Gilbert held him back, "Don't." He turned back to the younger men and glared, "You _don't_ take disciplinary actions without the consent of a superior officer. Seeing as _I_ am your superior officer, I order you to follow protocol."

Bernardo jerked his head, "Your heard the man. Let's take them to the Lieutenant Commander." He ushered the duo towards a room glowing with a soft golden light. Gilbert followed behind them and sent a silent prayer to anyone who would listen to help him and his friends through what was about to happen. He walked around the group, schooling his face into a stoic state before whispering something into his commanding officer's ear. Standing silently next to him, he watched as Feli and Lovino stared up at the imposing blonde.

"Lars," whispered Feli. He could hardly believe how much the kid who used to live down the street from Elizabeta's had grown. He towered well over most of the crew present and his uniform stretched over defined muscles. His was hair styled so to keep it away from his cold green eyes as he looked at them coldly. Maybe he would remember that Elizabeta would set up play dates so that they could play with each other...Maybe he would remember the time when Emma had said that Lovi and him made an adorable pair. Maybe he wouldn't be as hash as Cortes…

"My crew was as carefully chosen as the disciples of Christ," said Lars lowly. He lowered himself to meet their eyes, "And I will not tolerate stow aways." Standing back up, he crossed his arms over his chest, "You will be flogged and when we pull into Cuba to resupply, god willing, you will be flogged some more. And then you'll be enslaved in the sugar plantations for the rest of your miserable lives." Lars curled his lip in disgust, "I don't care who flogs them just take them to the brig when you're done."

…or not.

Feli tried to find a bright side to the situation he and his brother found themselves in. well, he'd never been to Cuba before so there was that. Grinning, he looked at Lovi, "Alright! We're going to Cuba, fratello!"

Lovi twisted around to look at his brother incredulously before being forced back up. As oldest, he was the first to be stripped from his shirt and tied to the whipping post in the brig.

Gilbert's jaw was tight as he watched the crew fight amongst themselves to see who got to whip the foul tempered Italian and his cute brother. He opened his mouth to say something but Lars cut him off, "On second thought, Gilbert, why don't _you_ do it." He handed the albino a whip and gave him a meaningful look before retreating to his cabin for the night. Gilbert watched him go with gratitude.

"Ok," he said as he approached Lovino, "the rest of you get back to your chores." Only a couple of sailors actually had chores to do so the rest stayed. If they couldn't do the deed they could at least watch. Sighing, Gilbert pressed against Lovi in pretense of tightening the rope around his wrists. He whispered, "Lars did us a favor in letting me do this. I'm going to hit you hard so that they others won't be ordered to hit your harder." He took a moment before wrinkling his nose, "No offense but you reek of fish."

Lovi gave a stiff nod, "I know. Let's just get this damn thing over with." He felt Gilbert step back and braced himself for the first whip.

* * *

><p><strong>Bernardo: *gasp* I would never treat Feli and Lovi like that! Oh sweet merciful sun, my brother is going to kill me!<strong>

**Me: Yup**

**Bernardo: *cries* Don't say that so nonchalantly!**

**Lol for those of you who don't know, Bernardo is my OC and older cousin of Feli and Lovino. He's actually a quadruplet with two identical brothers and one that came out with blonde hair. He's a real sweet heart but for the sake of this fic he's a bit of a butt. Fun fact: inspiration for those four came from my cats who are in fact quadruplets. Three are black and came out black and white, he kind of looks like he's wearing a tux. **

**Eh! Poor Feli and Lovi, but Gilbert is right. Lars did them a favor I think. Hate to imagine what the sailors would've done if they'd been the ones allowed to punish our two Italians. Thanks to everyone who has put this story to their favorites and follow lists =3 I'm going to try and be quick with the updates but I really want to get The Conjuring finished by Halloween. Hopefully this pace is good, yeah?  
><strong>

**Feli being interested in Alchemy/medicine is something that came to me when I was trying to figure out if I should put Matthew in here too. I'm not but only because I'm going to do something awesome with him in the end. Feli's medicine actually Penicillin but he has no idea. lol Something is going to have to prevent them from getting sick over in the new world right? **

**Ps-has anyone seen the Hetalia updates? So gosh darn cute! Germany and Italy are on a "date" with Feli showing Ludwig around Italy. He complimented a girl and Germany got jealous X3**

**~Until Next Time**

**VivaAmerica: I'm sorry T_T Although I am happy that you were excited to see this story uploaded :3 lol, your Mexico sounds awesome! I like how she related to America and Canada! Well, half related but still. North American sibs for the win! Also I don't mind long reviews (your BATB one) as a matter fact I love them **｡◕ ‿ ◕｡**I also don't mind advertisement lol, I'm honored actually :)**

**Fallen heavens: hehe ^_^ Thanks!**

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: I will try my best to update frequently. I'm actually working on the second chapter as we speak :) I'm sorry about the names. I'll see what I can do ^_^ Was just the high priest's name or all of them? **

**guest: thank you!**

**QuinnStormTwilight: Than you! I can't wait to hear more from you (****✿◠‿◠)**

**pastaaddict: ooh! I'm glad to hear that! Don't worry, they'll see each other again real soon. I'm worried about Lud too but maybe a certain god will save him from a bad fate. :D Also, *blush and sweats nervously* I-I have no idea what you're talking about...****lol (****≧ω≦)**

**HeroinOfDarkness: Yay! I'm glad to hear that (**◕‿◕✿**) I actually had trouble with this chapter. I hope it came out alright. As for The conjuring, thenext chapter is already brewing. I will be sure to check out your Russia poem :)**

**zoewinter1: oh no worries! I understand perfectly. Bless you for taking that class. I remember taking it in high school and it was a nightmare, college even more so. I'm glad you made it though (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ. I'll see you soon!**


	3. The Trail That We Blaze

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.**

The Vargas brothers were shivering in pain in their cells and it was killing Gilbert knowing that their pain was caused by his hand. He forced his gaze back to his book to reread the same page he'd been looking at for the past hour now in hopes to numb his guilt. Biting his lip, he glanced back over to their cell and saw Lovi drag himself over to Feli and hold his hand. Feli gave a soft _ve_ in response.

"Sir, I'm going to head to the sleeping quarters," said Bernardo as he stood up and stretched. He looked over at the siblings expressionlessly, "Will you be fine down here alone or should I wake someone up to take my place?"

There _was_ a god. Gilbert sat straighter and shook his head, "Nein. I'll be fine on my own. You're dismissed." He waited until he heard the click of the door shutting before reaching for his assigned medical box and some dinner he managed to hide away.

Lovi and Feli tried to sit up when they heard their cell door open. The younger of two smiled at the albino, "Ve, ciao, Gilbert."

"What were you two thinking sneaking onto one of Cortes' ships," asked Gilbert as he peeled off their shirts. Angry red lashings were swelling but at least most of the bleeding had stopped. He took some water and a clean rag, "Here let me clean this up for you two."

"Do Feli first," ordered Lovino. He squeezed his brother's hand, "Don't worry, it won't hurt."

Feliciano was silent before asking, "Gilbert, do you have any alcohol?"

Without deterring from his work, Gilbert said, "I think Lars has a bottle of rum and Francis and I bought a bottle of whiskey but it's in my cabin… Why?"

"That would disinfect us better than water. If this gets infected, I don't think we'll survive the trip."

Lovino huffed, "The idiot's worried that we'll die on here like the possibility of us dying from getting flogged again in Cuba isn't higher than that. Truth be told, if you have booze, I'd rather be drunk than having to deal with thoughts about what's going to happen to us once we make port."

"You two wouldn't be in this situation if you guys just stayed put like I told you to," hissed Gilbert. He finished wiping away Feli's wounds and got a fresh cloth for Lovi's, "Besides, it's a long trip. Lars could always change his mind."

"I doubt it."

"Don't make assumptions about me you little shit," said a deep voice through the bars. The trio inside jumped, all three startled by Lars' sudden appearance. Lars leaned against the cell door with a bored expression, his bottle of liquor hung off his belt loop and he was shifting Feliciano's jar of salve between his hands. When no one dared breathe a word, Lars sighed, "You three are still the biggest idiots I've ever met."

Gilbert stayed crouched, "S-sir, I was just—"

"Drop the act, Beilschmidt. I'm not here to discipline you." He handed both the bottle and salve to the albino officer, "Do what you must and be discrete. I just hope that you know that whatever food we give them is coming out of your rations." Lars glanced at the two Italians and rose an eyebrow, "I was serious about what I said tonight. I'm not going to risk my head or position as Cortes' second in command just because we played together as children."

He stepped back out, pausing only to say, "But, if you two are as good as you say you are, I'm sure getting out this cell won't be any trouble. There isn't much I can do if prisoners decided to abandon ship on their own. And as for you, Gilbert, don't be so obvious; I can't have my men thinking I'm going soft."

Lovino scoffed and muttered, "No one's going to think that." His brother gasped and nudged him. "What? It's true. If he was really a good guy, he would just let us go."

"Go where," asked Gilbert as he saturated another cloth with the liquor. He winced as Feli cried out when he pressed it to his wounds, "Sorry, Feli. Anyway, he's right. We can't just let you go. It's not going to look good to the other men and if Cortes hears about it, he'll have our heads."

"What are we supposed to do then? Heal and wait till we get to Cuba? Then what? Work on the damn plantations? Hell no!"

Feli reached out for the salve and checked it, "You worry too much, fratellone. I'm sure we'll be just fine." He pulled out Gilbert's jar of salve, "Can I have this? If I scoop half of mine in here, then it can ferment and we'll have more."

"I don't want to put that shit on me, Feli."

"Please, Lovi. It'll be good for you."

"You don't know that."

"Then consider it a test. If it works we'll be good as new and if it doesn't then…well, we'll be fine. Maybe."

Gilbert looked between the two and gave Feli his jar along with a plate of dinner, "This is all I can do for now. You guys can keep the medical box. I'll just have to be careful or just bum off Francis if I need something." He stood up and brushed his pants off, "I can't tend to you guys all the time so try and be good." Smiling at his two friends, Gilbert locked the door to their cell, "Don't worry, guys. I'm sure you'll figure a way out in no time."

Feli smiled back and wrapped bandages around Lovi's torso, "My big brother is a genius! He'll come up with a plan to get us back to Spain, won't you, Lovi?" Lovino grunted and rolled over in his cot, the cogs in his mind already reeling.

* * *

><p><strong>Six Weeks Later<strong>

Wounds nothing but fading scratches, Feli was napping in his hay. Lovino had refused to use the salve at first but after a few days, he'd come down with a fever and Feli had no choice but to force him down while he slathered it on his back. The fever had gone down rather quickly afterwards and Gilbert had requested the remains of the jar so that he could make more so that Francis could have it. Lovino made a speedy recovery and, ever since then, had spent every waking moment plotting their escape.

And that's where he was now. Plotting their escape after exactly forty-two days. Forty-two, long, exhausting, near maddening, days. A few days ago, the ship had reached a complete stop and for an agonizing hour, the Vargas brothers had freaked out thinking that they'd finally arrived at Cuba. To their relief, it had simply been a pause in their voyage because Cortes wanted to send his horse over to Lars' ship. Apparently, Johan had been a handful and he'd had enough of his rowdy behavior. Francis had also taken that moment to visit his friend and had hoped to stay but Lars shooed him off.

Needless to say, after the whole ordeal, Lovi had doubled his efforts. The ship was moving at a steady pace, mist from waves occasionally drizzled over them. Lovi pounded his head against the wooden post in their cell, ignoring the hushed gasp beside him.

Feli picked up the apple one of the sailors must've accidentally dropped on him and smiled. Things were looking up. Glancing over to his brother, he crawled closer, "Ve, Lovi? How's— how is the escape plan coming?"

Pausing, Lovi stared at the tiny cracks in the wood, "I think—yeah, I'm getting something!" Turning around to face his brother, he frowned as he recalibrated the details and went back to smacking his head on the post. After a few more smacks, he grinned, "Ok, I've got it!" The Italian tugged his brother closer and dragged over their plate and saucer of rations, "In the dead of night, You and I will—we'll grab some provisions and—uh—hijack one of those long boats and then we row back to Spain there's no tomorrow!"

The younger Vargas looked at the mess his brother made before hesitantly asking, "Back to Spain, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"In a row boat?"

"You got it."

Feli gave Lovi a look, "Great, sensational. A-and that's your plan then, is it?"

A near crazed grin spread across Lovi's face, "That's pretty much it."

Not one for doubting his brother's genius mind, Feli grinned back, "Well, I like it~ So, how do we get on deck?"

Lovi stared blankly ahead, his mouth parting and closing a few time. Taking another tin, he took a deep breath, "In the dead of night, you and I will grab some provisions, hijack one of those long boats and—"

Feli groaned, "Great…"

"Wa—ok, well what's _your_ idea smart guy!"

"Wh-what do you mea—why are you asking _me_ that? You're the one with the plans." He shook his head in exasperation when his brother huffed and flopped onto the floor next to him. Johan neighed above them and Feli was suddenly struck with inspiration. Looking to the apple in his hand then up at the gated opening, he smacked his brother, "Actually, I do, fratello."

"You do what?"

"I have an idea, silly." Feliciano stood up and nudged his brother with his foot, "Come on, give me a boost." Grunting, Lovi wrapped his arms around his brother's legs and lifted him up. Feli peeked to make sure the coast was clear before sticking his hand through one of the squares. He whispered as loudly as he could, "Pst, Johan!"

"Oh my god."

Feli ignored his brother and continued to coax the horse closer to the gate, "Johan, lookie. I have a nice juicy apple for you~" Intrigued and hungry from his lowered rations, Johan crept closer to the apple. The young Italian grinned, "You can have it but you have to do a trick for me first. All you have to do is find a pry bar. That's a long piece of iron with a hooky thing in the end." The horse snorted and eyed the fruit hungrily before going to search for whatever it was Feli wanted.

"Feli, you're talking to a _horse_," muttered Lovino grumpily, not too pleased that his brother's rear was so close to his face nor the fact that he was assisting with such a ridiculous plan.

"Shush," hissed Feliciano. He turned back to the opening, "Yes, that's right, Johan, find the pry bar~"

"_Yes, find the pry bar_," mocked the older Vargas. Rolling his eyes, he pressed his forehead against Feli's lower back to keep from crying out in frustration, "He can't _understand_ pry bar! He's a dumb horse, there's no way—" A soft clink cut Lovino's words and the two brothers glanced down to see what had dropped into their cell. Annoyed by Feli's soft giggles and Johan's neighs, Lovi lowered his brother to pick up the keys, "Well, it's _not_ a pry bar."

"Ve~"

That night when Gilbert came in to give them their meal, he knew that they've finally figured something out. It was good and all but the young German wasn't sure how he felt about it. On one hand he was happy that they wouldn't be prisoners but on the other, how would they survive out in sea all on their own? Without a second thought, he went back to the barracks and dug through some of his smaller subordinate's clothes until he found something for his friends to wear.

"Don't tell me what you're going to do," murmured Gilbert as he handed them a change of clothes and their rings, "just…just promise me I'll see you again."

Lovi gladly changed into the red peasant shirt and loose brown trousers while Feli slipped on his blue and a small vest, "Yeah, yeah—oi!" Light amber eyes glared into red before softening. He patted Gilbert's hand awkwardly, "You'll see us again, someday. Don't worry."

"Ve~" Feli hugged Gilbert through the bars, "Promise to find something nice to bring back for us when you come back."

"God speed, mein bruders," said Gilbert as he hugged them both and went to bed.

A few hours later, when the Vargas brothers were sure that the ship was fast asleep, they climbed out of their cell. Lovino immediately went to secure their provisions and boat while Feli snuck the keys back into the barracks. Johan approached him as soon as he came back onto deck, nudging him earnestly. Feli patted him, "Thank you so much for helping us, bello. I wish I could take you with us, you're so smart and your eyes remind me of someone very dear to my heart."

Double checking that they had enough for the trip back, Lovi glared over his shoulder, "Stupid, get over here and help me. And for fucks sake, he a ruthless war horse not a poodle. Let's go before he licks you to death."

Feli sighed and patted Johan once more, "Ciao." He hopped over the rail and into the boat, taking hold of the rope to help lower them down into the water. Johan neighed in exasperation and glanced over the rail, snorting loudly. Feli cringed, "Shh, please be quiet."

"The hell is wrong with him," hissed Lovino.

"Oh! He wants his apple." Feeling rather silly for forgetting, Feli pulled the apple from his pocket and gave it to his brother.

"Well, give it to him before he wakes up to whole ship!" Taking the apple, Lovi tossed it to Johan, "Here, fetch!"

The apple flew over Johan's head, bouncing off the captain's telescope, towards the sail and off the mast until it fell back over board. The two Vargas were slowly lowering themselves when they heard galloping. Exchanging glances, it can safely be assumed that neither Lovino nor Feliciano had expected for said galloping to be followed by neighs and a heavy splash.

"Oh no," cried Feliciano, "Johan!"

"No, wait! Feli, don't!"

But Feliciano didn't listen to his brother. He was deaf to everything but the black horse's desperate cries. Letting go of the rope, he dove into the freezing water and swam towards Johan, "Hang on, old boy! Hang on, help is coming!"

"Feliciano! Oh, fuck," gasped Lovi as he lost control of the rope and the boat fell into the water. He quickly picked up the paddles and rowed towards them both, "You idiot! Have you lost your mind?!" An ominous shadow loomed over their small boat and Lovino paled, "Holy shit!"

They had inadvertently placed their boat right on the path where the two ships trailing after Lars' were on. The first brushed too close to the row boat, making a wave big enough to send it toppling over. The two brothers gasped for air under their overturned boat, Johan's large head popping out for a gasp of his own. Stressed and beyond terrified, the horse frantically kicked his powerful legs.

"F-fratello," said Lovino as he quickly came up with a solution, "loop the rope under the horse!"

"Gotcha." Feli took ahold of Johan's rope and swam under the boat before climbing onto the belly of the boat. He reached out to help his brother up as well, "Now what?"

"On the count of three we pull!"

"What?"

The fourth ship was making its way down the path, its monstrous size already making waves. Lovi's calculations were quickly recalibrated, "Three! Pull, Feli, Pull!" Taking advantage of the waves, the two brothers leaned backwards and tugged with all their might, allowing the boat to flip right side up and scooping Johan with it.

Two heads popped the water along with a lone crate of supplies. Feli giggled in triumph, "It worked, Lovi! It worked!" They heaved themselves back into the boat and Feliciano hugged his brother tightly, "You're so amazing~"

"Yeah, yeah," huffed Lovi, patting Feli on the head, "Did any of the supplies make it?"

Glancing behind him, Feli tensed, "Uh, yes and no."

Not liking the sound of that Lovi sat up, "Oh for fuck's sake!" True, the most of their supplies had been managed to stay inside the boat but Johan, in his diet induced hunger, was already munching happily on it. Lovino rubbed his face in annoyance.

"Look at the positive side, Fratello," chirped Feli happily, "At least things can't get—" At that moment a crack of lightening lit the sky followed swiftly by thunder and rain.

Lovino clawed his face as he brought his hands down, "I-I'm sorry, were you going to say worse?"

Feli had the good sense to lie, "No."

"No? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Biting his lip shyly, Feli pulled out a flask of rum and emptied it in favor to fill it with rain water.

"At least we're in a row boat," muttered Lovino as he did the same with his bottle and any other container that was now useless.

Feli's grin returned, "Ve, we're in a row boat! Exactly, nothing escapes you, fratellone~" Johan decided that perhaps it was best if he didn't alert his two companions of the pod of sharks following after them and continued to munch on their food.

~.~

Why Lovino thought it was smart to escape the safety of a powerful ship was beyond him. Two days into sea and they had already encountered one of the things he feared they would, a storm. The two Italians had paddled with all their might as they battled the ocean's fierce waves. And just when things seemed in their ill favor, it only got worse.

A few days after the storm, their supplies had truly reached the end save for the water. Lovino had suggested they eat Johan but Feli refused much to the horse's relief. He doubted he tasted good anyway but before Lovi could insist, a sickly seagull landed on one of their oars. Licking their lips, the brothers moved slowly as to not startle the bird but, against all astronomical odds, a shark reached up and claimed it as its own, leaving the three to sob in despair.

When their water finally did give out, it wasn't long until the heat became too much for the two brothers. Bodies became numb as did their cognitive thinking and they soon went on auto pilot, rowing senselessly. Johan himself was beginning to get dizzy with all the spinning they were doing and there was still no sign of land. Nauseous, starving and parched, Johan rested his dark head over on the edge and closed his eyes.

Lovino and Feli eventually came to their senses and stopped paddling all together, both too tired to keep going. They leaned against each other and allowed the current to take them to their doom, their only comfort being that at least they would be dying free men instead of slaves on some sugar plantation. Feli played with his ring and absentmindedly stroked Johan's black mane, "Lovi? Did you ever imagine it would end like this?"

"The horse is a surprise," rasped Lovi as followed his brother's example and tied his shirt over his head to keep it from overheating. Leaning back against Feli's sticky back, he smiled at Johan's glare and Feli's slight giggle.

"Any regrets?"

"Besides dying? Yeah." Lovi had been thinking about them ever since the ship had stopped to get Johan. He regretted not being able to be quick enough to escape the guards or head in another direction. He regretted not being able to keep his brother safe but most of all, and this was the part of him that always felt inferior compared to others, "I've never had enough… gold."

Feli knew why his older brother said that. Ever since their grandfather died, he'd always wanted to provide for and prove to him that they didn't need anyone but each other to survive. And they were fine for a while but then…Gilbert ended up back in the picture and they sometimes depended on him for things. Lovi hated that with a passion. Especially when he wanted something and he wasn't able to get it for him because they were low in coin.

As for him, it was a mixture of things. He'd never be able to sell his salve or worse, he'd never be able to explore the world and learn it's different ways of healing. Shaking his head, Feli pressed his back against his brother miserably, "My biggest regret, besides dying, is that our biggest adventure is over before it even began and no one will even remember us."

Lovi breathed in heavily through his nose, his eyes watering at the sound of his brother's depressed tone, "If it's any consolation, fratellino, you… made my life an a-adventure."

"And," whimpered Feli through tears of his own, "if it's any consolation, fratellone, you made my life…rich." Johan watched the two Italians break down in sobs with disinterest, rolling his eyes and shaking his head with a snort. That stupid apple hadn't been worth this…

Drapping their arms over the side of their small boat and into the cool water, Feli and Lovi closed their eyes and dozed off for a nap. If they were lucky maybe—Rough grains brushed their hands and Feli instantly pulled it back out, wrinkling his nose at the sand before wiping it off on his pants.

Lovino however took a fist full before bringing in, a wild smile spreading across his face upon realizing what it was. Feli realized too when he noticed that the boat wasn't rocking anymore. Gasping, he turned around to face his brother, "Is it?!"

"It is!"

"It's land," the cried joyously before jumping out of the small boat and kissing the ground as if it were gold itself. Even Johan neighed happily and joined them, licking the grains and nuzzling his face against the warm sand.

Feli trailed his kisses up a boulder, opening his eyes when his lips fell into an empty socket…an empty eye socket. Jumping back in horror, Feli screamed, "Ve!"

"What's wrong," asked Lovino before noticing what had scarred his little brother. Screaming himself, he fell backwards and stared at the skeleton before him, "Everyone if favor of getting back into the boat say, I?"

"I!"

Johan snorted and was first to jump back into the boat followed by Lovino. The two worked into putting back into the water while Feli took in all of the island's features. One in particular seemed awefully familiar. Wiping his brow, he pulled out the folded map he and Lovi won and looked at it carefully, twisting it around until he matched the landmark with it. Holy shit…

"Oi, Feli! Quite stalling and help me over here!" When Feli remained unresponsive, Lovino growled softly and walked over to him, "Feli! Feliciano!" Shaking him, Lovi pulled back as if he'd been shocked, "What the hell is that? Is—is that that fucking map?!"

Feli ignored the anger in his brother's voice and beamed happily, "Fratello, we did it! It's all right here!"

"You _still_ have the map?!"

"The whistling rock, the stream!"

"You kept the map but you couldn't have gotten a little bit more food," cried Lovino now walking closer to his brother to strangle him.

"Look! Even the mountains are here." Feli turned around and hugged his brother, "You said so yourself, it could be possible and it is! It really is the map to El Dorado!" By the time he was done shaking his brother and his exclamation, Feli was breathing rapidly.

Lovi stared at him stoically, "…You drank sea water didn't you."

"Oh, come on!" Feli pouted and pulled away while his brother went back to drag the boat back into the water.

"I'm not coming on! I wouldn't step a foot into that stupid jungle for a million pesetas!"

Pesetas? Why would—of course! Smirking smugly, Feli sat on a boulder and watched his brother, "How about a _hundred_ million?"

Lovi froze mid tug, "What?"

"Well, I just thought since El Dorado was the city of gold…"

"What's your point?"

"Ve, _you_ know. Dust, nuggets, bricks. Temples where you can plug gold from the very walls but you don't want to go so why don't we just get back into the boat and row back to Spain? After all it worked oh so very well last time." The smirk grew smugger as Feli watched the wheels turn in his brother's mind.

"Wah—uh, wait."

"Yes, fratellone?"

Brows furrowed in thought, Lovi bit his lip excitedly, "I have a new plan."

"Do tell, Lovi~"

Lovi leaned into his brother, "We find the city of gold, we take the gold, _then_ we row back to Spain."

"And buy Spain!"

"Yeah!"

Giggling, Feli stood back up and plucked a sword from the skeleton's spine and pointed it towards the jungle, "That's the spirit, Lovi~ Come on, we'll follow that trail."

Lovi squinted in the direction his brother was pointing at, "What trail?"

"The trail, that we blaze, silly." Feli swung his sword at a few vines to clear a path only to hit solid stone, "Uh…_that_ trail that we blaze!"

Lovi pulled his shirt right and shook his head, already regretting his decision but it was too late. Feli was excited and already running to collect water for them. Johan simply stared after the silly Italian before making his way back to the boat. Or rather he tried. The older Vargas grabbed his reigns, "Oh, no you don't. We wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for your dumbass self jumping after a stupid apple."

'Excuse you, that apple was delicious,' thought Johan as he took a head butted Lovino, nipping at his trousers.

"Ouch! Feli, your stupid horse bit me!"

* * *

><p><strong>El Dorado<strong>

Ludwig glanced up from his painting of Feli and watched Antonio nervously pace back and forth, "Stop that, brother."

"I can't, Luddy," muttered Antonio. He rubbed his aching belly, "Mom and dad haven't returned from the high priest's temple. Oh gods, they're going to kill us. They're going to sacrifice us for sure!"

Standing up, Ludwig forced Antonio to stop pacing, "No one is going to die."

"Yes, we are, man! We're going to die and it's all because of that stupid lie we told."

"Why don't we leave?"

"Huh?"

"When they come back, we gather our things and leave like we've discussed before." Ludwig pulled out a map, "Look the guards shift at midnight if we take these two routes, they won't even notice that we all left together. You can take mom and dad and go this way while I take this other route. The guards will chase me giving you three enough to make a run for it."

Antonio shook his head, "It's too risky. What if you get caught?"

"Doesn't matter. I don't think they'll do anything to me…" He tugged on his blonde hair, "I'm a child of the sun and sea remember? A servant of the gods."

"If only two gods would show up…"

"Please, we could only be so lucky." Tightening his navy blue kilt, Ludwig gently nudged his adoptive brother towards the door, "Go buy some supplies. We need to plan this very carefully." Ludwig waited until Antonio did as he was told before pulling out his painting again. He pressed his lips to Feli's face, "Wherever you are, Liebe, pray for us."

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry for taking forever to update. I was trying to complete <span>The Conjuring<span> before Halloween and that didn't happen. So I'm going to fall into a regular updating scheduled as I usually do where I try to update once a we****ek. Thank you to everyone who has added this story to their favorites/follow lists. It means so much to me that you guys are enjoying this story. Well, here we go ^_^ Oh! I did go back and change a little thing in chapter two. It's just Altivo will now be Johan. lol. You know I think that Italy is actually the owner of Germany cat, only because I've seen him play with him twice in official art and also because Italy would put a German flag ribbon around his neck. Also, Johan told Gino in the anime that he has to take a nap because it's part of his home's rules to do so...who else has a scheduled nap that has to be taken? Anywho, I think it's funny seeing Johan as a horse. I can't wait to write him and this story. **

**~Until Next Time (´ ▽ ` )ﾉ**

**VivaAmerica:****lol, when I first saw the movie to get a feel for how I wanted to write it, that was the first thing that popped into my head (・∀・ ) poor Roddy lol! Aw, thank you. I think you're right. Feli's thirst for adventure is fueled mostly by his thirst for knowledge' I'm hopping that it came across as that, I was having a little bit of trouble. And Lars, lol is a hard butt T_T I guess he has to be in order to deal with Cortes but I hoped he redeemed himself a little in this chapter. And yes, lol Canada will appear but not till the end. I think you guys will LOVE it =3**

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: I'm going to see what I can do. Since Ludwig taught his adoptive family German/Spanish and some Italian along with some of the other citizens of El Dorado, I think I can come up with some easier names =3 Also, The Conjuring will be updated tomorrow. I wanted to today but I have a test on Muscles tomorrow and I only remember like half T_T **

**pastaaddict: lol, they are, huh? So cute though ^_^ Yeah, I thought it was rather merciful of Lars to let Gilbert whip them. **

**HeroinOfDarkness: I actually giggled at the thought of Gilbert being the horse. At first he was but I came up of something better for him later ^_^ I think you guys are going to enjoy what happens to him!**

**Guest: lol thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ**


	4. Welcome To El Dorado

**Philippines/Miguel**

**Cuba/**Máximo****

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. **

The volcano was livelier today than usual. Despite this, light chatter filled the market place where Ludwig was patiently waiting for the shop keeper to fill his leather pouch with dried meats It had been four days since he and Antonio told their parents what they were planning. Their mother had said that they were too old to fear running and that they would only slow them down but Antonio was adamant about taking her and their uncle with them. Ludwig frowned at the weight of his pouch when the vendor handed back, "Could you put a little bit more?"

"Going somewhere, _sun_ child," asked Miguel, nephew of Itzcoatl, or Adrian, as Ludwig had taken to call him. He stared at the towering blonde with arms crossed and smirked, "My uncle wishes to see you at the temple."

Ludwig clenched his jaw, "I'll go after I'm done here."

"No, you'll come now." Miguel grabbed Ludwig by the bicep and dragged him along, "Don't think for a second that I won't put you in your place, Ludwig. You may have been able to fool many but even my uncle is starting to see through your pretense."

"Pretense? What pretense?" Shaking Miguel off his arm, Ludwig glared, "Don't ever put your hands on me again."

"Or what?"

"Or you'll suffer the wrath of the gods," muttered Ludwig with enough conviction to even fool himself that such deities existed and were looking out for him. He climbed up the steps to Adrian's temple where he found the dark haired priest kneeled before a looming statue of a jaguar. Beside him were various charts and large books of ancient scripture.

Miguel waited patiently for his uncle to finish before shoving Ludwig towards him, "I've brought the sun child, uncle."

"Good. Leave us." Adrian stood and turned to Ludwig, "What news do you have of our creators?"

Ludwig crossed his arms and stayed silent. Ever since he learned their language and taught them Spanish, both the citizens and high priest had asked him about the gods he was apparently a servant to. Antonio and his parents had taught him every painstaking detail from every deity in El Dorado's culture along with the rituals and holidays. All this was so that when Adrian would summon him he would know what to say and buy them all more time.

When it got to the point where Adrian wanted more answers, Ludwig started to come up with things that needed to be done for the arrival of the duo Gods in order for them to feel welcomed. It started with small things, such as the temples all needed something red and something blue. Adrian commissioned a quest of sorts for the perfect shade of blue and red dye for it had to match Ludwig's explanation. That had taken three years and another just to finish painting specific characters into the temple which really had been Italian declarations of love for his childhood sweetheart but they needn't know that.

Afterwards, at Antonio's suggestion, Ludwig said that the Gods had come to him in a vision saying that they wanted a monument outside of the El Dorado so that they knew that their presence was wanted. It was to be made entirely of gold and that had taken six years to accomplish. The rest were smaller things here and there but Ludwig could tell that Adrian was reaching the end of his patience with him. He stood straighter and said, "It's nearly time, sir. They gods, they're coming. I'd say by the end of the week if that."

Adrian watched Ludwig carefully, "Is that so? The stars tell me otherwise. As a matter of a fact, the sky god looks rather hungry. Perhaps it's time for a sacrifice to appease him so that he doesn't take our precious sun, _your father_, away." He smiled darkly at the look of distress on Ludwig's face, "So you agree that a sacrifice will do?"

This was a test. Ludwig knew better but he didn't want to give the priest any reason to go through with the sacrifice. It was bad enough that fifteen were periodically thrown into the volcano twice a year so that it wouldn't erupt; something that he thanked the gods that he didn't have to have a part in. He raked his head for an idea, grasping at anything almost blindly until he sputtered out, "That won't be necessary. They'll be here. I know they will."

"You've been saying that for years now."

Trying his best to keep his nerves under control, Ludwig said, "Why don't you start preparations to welcome the age of the jaguar? If I'm telling that they'll be here it's because they will. Now if you excuse me, I must finish shopping for my family."

Dark eyes followed Ludwig as the blonde made his way to the entrance of the temple, "They aren't your real family. They're just mere mortals." Ludwig didn't respond but his jaw clenched at the high priest's words and refused to take the bait. He took the steps two at a time before rushing back home.

Antonio looked up from all the supplies he had set out on the table in front of him as soon as Ludwig slammed the door shut, "What's wrong?"

"We have to leave."

"What happened?"

Ludwig quickly gathered their things into bags before rushing to his room to get his small picture of Feli and stuffed that in his bag too. "The ring," he muttered to himself, "Where's the ring?" He turned over his small wooden boxes until he found Romulus' golden ring and his uncle's iron cross necklace. Large tanned hands covered his own trembling ones and Ludwig stopped, eyes moving up to meet worried green.

"Calm down," said Antonio slowly, "and tell me what happened."

It took a few moments but Ludwig managed to still his hands enough for Antonio to let go. He took a seat on his bed and ran them over his face, "Adrian's insane."

Antonio took a seat next to him and rolled his eyes, "Of course he is. Have you just now come to realize that?" Leaning back until his back met the Mattress, Antonio plucked the painting of Lovino and Feliciano and grinned while poking at Lovi's chubby cheek, "What do you suppose they're doing now?"

"What?" Ludwig dragged his hands away from his face and frowned, "The boys?"

"Who else?"

"I—I don't know. They're back in Spain I guess." Shaking his head, he fell back on his bed as well, "Adrian is probably going to round up people for a mass sacrifice."

Antonio's finger froze mid poke, "Wh-what makes you say that? What did he say exactly?"

"That the sky god is planning to eat our sun if he isn't fed. I don't know, bruder, but something tells me that you and your parents won't be spared from this reaping this time around. I told them that the creators are coming soon in hopes to sway him away from that but—"

"How soon?"

"End of the week soon…if not sooner."

"…shit," cursed Antonio in German making Ludwig snort.

"Ja."

They pondered their options until Antonio finally said, "We can leave this evening while everyone is inside for their evening siesta. The guards switch up around that time so we'll split up like you said and by then mom and dad will be back from the temple. Oh! I have to get something from there first."

"Antonio, we don't have time for—"

"We need a token to offer my dad's tribe's chief else they'll kill us. Don't worry, I'll be really fast."

"…alright."

* * *

><p>Lovino was pissed. More than pissed, Lovi was damn near livid. For the past four days, he'd followed his brother blindly as Feli maneuvered them through the thick jungle. The enthusiasm he had initially had when first deciding to allow Feli to talk him into searching for El Dorado quickly diminished on the first day. He'd turned his back for a second to refill his canteen of water while Feli tried to coax Johan into letting him ride on his back when he realized that both he and the horse had gone ahead without him.<p>

It had taken roughly thirty minutes before Feli finally came back in tears. Apparently he'd gotten lost while trying to find the trail again. Lovi had shaken his head and flipped the map right side up, "Stupid…" By night nightfall, they managed to find the second marker, a bird shaped opening in a cave, that told them that they were on the right path. They fell asleep in there and continued on until their trail was blocked by heavy vines.

While Feli chopped away at them, Lovino lost what little patience he had and decided to just walk through the river. Feli had tugged Johan's reign to keep the horse from following after his older brother, "Fratello, I don't think you should go—"

"Shut up! I know what I'm doing." As soon as Feli made his own way across, he found Lovino sitting in his underwear as he plucked leeches from his skin. He immediately ran over to help him pull them off his back all the while listening to his brother cry angrily and scream curses at the river. He didn't quit learn his lesson though because later that afternoon, when Feli encouraged him to follow _his_ way, Lovi insisted on walking through another pond using the large uneven rocks as a bridge.

Behind him, Feli heard Johan neigh in amusement which prompted him glance over at his brother just as the older Italian's rear was bitten by one of the piranhas in the pond. He'd managed to pull it off by Feli was quick to clean the wound much to Lovi's mortification and anger, "Ve, at least we have dinner, Fratellone~"

Dinner, of course, given their luck, was promptly snatched away by a strange round creature that had taken to following them about. Lovi glared at it halfheartedly and shook his head before taking some berries his brother had deemed safe for consumption. They picked up the trail at first light and stumbled upon a hot spring.

Sore and feeling rather sticky from the humidity of the jungle, the two brothers didn't think twice of stripping down and jumping in. Lovino laughed happily for once in their trip and leaned back against the rocks, letting the hot water sooth the aches away. Feli all but purred in content as he leaned his head on his brother's shoulder, "Ve~" He contemplated dozing off when he felt something tug on his curl. Eye's shooting open, he cried, "Lovino!"

"Th-that wasn't me, dumbass," stuttered Lovino, red faced. He pointed to a small group of monkeys who were eying them curiously, "It was those little bastar—oi!" Scrambling out of the water, Lovi chased after a monkey who ran off with his clothes, "Come back here, you little shit!"

Feli of coursed laughed good naturedly until he realized that another monkey was running away with his own clothes which had _him_ scrambling out and after it as well. It had taken a few minutes but Feli managed to coax a trade with the small animals, their clothes in exchange from some of the berries he collected. Afterwards, it had taken another few minutes to locate their trail again. Lovi decided to take his turn on Johan and dozed off while Feli lead them through the jungle.

He managed to find them a good spot to settle for the night which, of course, meant that it had plenty of leaves to provide protection from the rain. Before Lovi cursed up a storm at the, well, storm, Feli put his knowledge of basic engineering to use and made them a small shelter big enough for Johan to slide him and for them to cuddle next to their horse. That had placated his brother for the moment but he drowned out his complaints and chose instead to study the map again.

Feli was shaken awake the next day and to his joy, Lovi wasn't in a foul mood as he had been prior to sleep. He chalked that up to the fact that the older Italian had found another marker while he let him sleep in a few more hours. They helped Johan down a small hill and coaxed him to jump onto pillars across a gorge where Lovino spotted the weeping woman monument. Water fell from her large stoned eyes like rivers of tears but it was enough to put a smile of Lovi's face which in turn put a smile on Feli's face.

They made to the final marker before the last which had been a large wolf shaped cave that spewed butterflies as if it were fire. That wasn't the reason why Lovino was pissed—I'm sorry, livid—however. He was livid partly because shortly after walking past the fire breathing wolf, and just as things were starting to look up, a heavy fog settled on the jungle floor and he lost both Feli and Johan for four hours. Not to mention he was sure that the stupid creature that had stolen their dinner and had been stalking them for the past four days was _still_ trailing them.

As soon as he found them, Lovino had forced them all to hold on to each other as he led them forward. Which again, he should say, is only partly because after walking forward for a few minutes they managed to find themselves walking in thin air. Which, of course—_Of fucking course_, cursed Lovino—was impossible. So, they tumbled down the drop off. Thick leaves and branches slowed their fall and they managed to land on moss. But that's only another part as to why Lovino was livid.

The major reason why he was livid was because after waking up from unconsciousness he found himself face to face with the marker at the end of the line. El Dorado, said the map. The golden one he supposed was the loose translation but as he currently stared at it, at the towering almost thirty feet, marker, he couldn't help but tremble in anger. Lovi stood up carefully and looked at the detail carefully carved into it. Two men with peculiar curls sat on top of a horse like serpent while another man was on his knees offering them a bowl. Smaller details were etched onto it but the fog loomed over the top and blocked out whatever it was and if Lovi were being honest, which he was, he didn't give a damn.

But because he was a good brother, and didn't want to kill his only living relative on impulse, Lovino walked around the marker just to make sure that it wasn't hiding the real El Dorado. As an added measure, he even gently scraped his nails over it but only specs of caked mud peeled off.

Sighing, Lovi gently nudged Feli's side with his foot and said softly, "Feli. Feli, wake up." At his groans, Lovi bent down to shake him awake, "Feli, we're here."

Feli gasped, "We found it?!"

"Oh yeah. We found it."

"Fantastico!" Jumping up excitedly, Feli glanced around him, "Where is it? How far?"

"Right here," said Lovi with a small smirk as he crossed his arms and watched Feli run around like a puppy trying to find it.

"Behind the rock?"

"No, no. Right here." The older Vargas wrapped an arm around the younger's shoulders and pulled him in so that he could see the large stone, "This, here, this is it."

Shaking his head, Feli furrowed his brow, "No, that can't—give me that!" He snatched the map from Lovi's hands and studied it furiously, "This can't be right."

"Apparently, El Dorado is native for great, big,_ rock_!" A part of Lovi wanted to strangle his brother for talking him into this expedition but the crushed look on his face placated his lividness down to a simmering anger. He pushed him and hopped onto Johan, "But hey, man, I'm feeling generous so _you_ can have _my_ share."

"Y-you don't think Cortes got here first and—"

"And what," asked Lovi with a sneer, "took the _really_ great big rock? The jackass!"

Feli started to breathe faster, tears working their way up to his eyes. He worried the map in between his hands, "But, fratello, we need to think about this. I mean we came all this way. We—w-w-we really—"

"_Get. On. The. Horse_," growled Lovino before picking up his brother by his collar and settling him behind him. He frowned when Feli sighed sadly, "Nah ah-ah, not with the face, stop." He hated to admit that seeing his brother look like that was putting a crack in his anger but it was. Motioning over to their right, he cleared his throat, "Right, well looks likes there's a pass right over there. Maybe we can find you some plants or something to study."

As he tried to lift Feli's spirit's up, behind the rock, Antonio burst through from the water fall. Things had gone horribly wrong in his and his family's escape. Somehow Miguel had heard of their plan and the guards were planted right where they had planned to leave the city. Ludwig had taken their parents and gone the other way, much to his dismay, while Antonio used himself to bait the guards to chase after _him_. It had been a spur of the moment change of plans but he did manage to see them make it out ok and he trusted Ludwig to keep them safe.

"Wah," cried Antonio as he slipped and fell face first into the water. Shaking himself off, he quickly grabbed his things and continued running only to collide with Johan's chest.

"What the hell," said Lovi, blushing as he got too much of an eyeful of Antonio. Shielding his brother's eyes, he cursed, "Perverted bastard, cover up!"

Feli tilted his head to the side, "Eh? Who are you talking to, fratellone?"

"Some perverted bastard."

"Oh~" He leaned back to pull away from his brother's hand and looked behind the rock. Feli paled at the sight of a group of half-naked men. Not that he had a problem with their attire. Rather, the deadly looking spears they held in their hands, "F-fratello?"

Rubbing his head, Antonio glanced up and gasped. His green eyes widened in disbelief. Lovi stared back with curiosity, "What the hell were you running away from dressed like that?"

"Fratello?"

"And why are you staring at me like you know me? You don't know me! Stop looking at me like that," cried Lovino, his face burning red at the intense look Antonio was giving him.

"Lovino!"

"What?!"

Feli responded by gripping his brother tight and slapping Johan's rear, "Run, Johan, run!" The dark horse noticed what was scaring his master and it scared him too. Rising on his hind legs, he let out a neigh before trying to do as he was told. Antonio saw too and grabbed his things again. They didn't make it far but to their surprise, the guards didn't attack.

With gasps and wide eyes, the guards stared at the two Italians in both fear and bewilderment. Even the captain of the guard, Miguel, was in awe. That didn't, however, deter him from his prey. He turned his glare on Antonio who threw his clothed treasure at Lovino. Lovi frowned, "The hell is this?" He tossed back to Antonio who threw it again. This went on for a few moments until he gave up and tried to appease the guards. The small round sphere collided with his head and he glared at Antonio before addressing Miguel, "C-ciao. Is this your rock?"

At their lack of response, Feli pulled his face away from his brother's back, "W-we were just looking."

"Yeah…yeah! We're tourists! _Tour-ists_," said Lovi again slowly as if it would make a difference, "We—uh, we got separated from our group. May we go now?" Arms tightened painfully around his waist when Miguel thrusted his spear at their neck, "Chigi!"

Miguel didn't take his eyes off the two Italians, "Take the thief and make sure that these two don't divert from us."

"But sir," said one of the guards, "They're—"

"That's for my uncle to decide. Now do as I said."

Feeling arms lift him up, Antonio hugged his sphere close to his chest. Thoughts of how incredibly lucky, or unlucky, he wasn't sure yet, he was quietly stewed in his head. He lifted his face towards the sky and prayed that the others made it safely out. Cracking an eye open, he stifled another gasp. In the trees, both his mother and father were staring down at him with worry. His father tightened his grip on a spear but Antonio gave him a subtle shake of the head before dropping a small package into the water. Well, at least they were safe…but where was Ludwig? Antonio figured that perhaps he was securing some water for the journey to their uncle's village.

The fog lifted behind them as they followed Miguel, revealing the golden marker Ludwig had convinced Adrian to commission.

Johan, though hesitant to take his masters towards danger, allowed for one of the men to take his reigns and tug him towards the waterfall. He felt Feliciano tighten his legs around his back and snorted at the guards as they approached a long boat, stomping his front foot. Lovino patted his mane soothingly, "Steady, bastard. Don't make things worse on us."

Hopping off the black horse, he helped Feli down and held his hand tightly as they took their seat in the boat. Johan followed and sat behind Antonio. Lovi tried his best too look anywhere but at the man sitting in front of him. Honestly! Didn't the man have any sense of shame? Staring at him like that as if he were some god…

The guards followed in their own boat behind them, everyone surprisingly quiet save for the few random hushed whispers in a language neither Lovino nor Feliciano could understand. After roughly fifteen minutes, Lovi sang Feli's lullaby three times to keep time, there was light at the end of the tunnel. It reflected off of Antonio's sphere and into their eyes making them shift in the boat to see. The action made their curls overlap with each other to make a small heart and it was all Antonio could do not to squeal at the adorableness.

Odds were that these two were not who he thought they were but if they were then perhaps he was luckier than he thought. He tried to get a look at their hands for rings like the one's Ludwig had and—oh sweet gods! Antonio momentarily forgot what he was doing and stared shamelessly at the two brother's rears as they shifted in their seats to look at the wonders of his home.

Feli and Lovi, oblivious to Antonio's wandering eyes, stared ahead with slack jaws. Feli tightened his hold on his brother's hand, "F-fratello..."

"I know," whispered Lovi in Italian, "It's—"

"I-It's—"

"El Dorado," the said together in awe for the city was literally made of gold. Granted, most of it was clay and other material but the architecture was enforced with gold. An imposing temple stood proudly at the center of the city with two smaller, but no less imposing, ones behind it. Feli glanced over the boat and giggled happily as a swarm of golden colored butterflies flew past his face, tickling his chin as they did. Large colorful fish, no less than maybe six feet long, swam underneath them making Johan nicker softly in awe. He snorted at the little round creature to be careful as it swam contently after them.

Around them the citizens of El Dorado were emerging from their homes to continue about their day. They caught sight of the two men inside the boat and started to murmur excitedly, or fearfully, Lovino wasn't sure yet, as they pointed at him and his brother. He locked eyes with a young mother and she nearly dropped her basket of fruits in fear. Lovi couldn't help but feel awkward in having so many eyes on him, "Keep close to me, Feliciano."

"Ve," cooed Feli softly as he reached over the boat to lightly touch a fish, grinning when it's scales shifted from a navy blue to gold.

Miguel's boat sped up ahead of theirs, pulling into a slot before he jumped out and ran to his uncle's temple. Another guard nervously looked between the two Italians and his people. If his commanding officer was right, if _his_ gut was right, then they were in for dark times. Shaking off his negative thoughts less they were overheard by the two in the boat, the guard took off in the other direction where Chief Máximo resided in his navy blue and gold home.

He found his stout leader playing with his children, "Chief! Chief, there is something you must know."

Máximo smiled kindly and beckoned him closer, "What is it?" He tilted his ear up so that his guard could whisper in his ear. His smile fell from his face and worry seeped into his eyes, "I see."

Across the city, Miguel ran up hundreds of steps until he reached his uncle's temple. He found Adrian meditating while two of his servants held Ludwig down while another painted symbols on his chest with blue paint. Miguel saw his uncle reach for his dagger and stopped him, "Uncle." Leaning in he whispered his news.

Dark brown eyes cracked open, a small smirk gracing his face as he raised a hand to stop his servants from proceeding with the blonde, "Well, well, sun child. It seems you were right." Ludwig glared at Adrian but didn't say anything as he was roughly pulled back to his feet and forced to follow after Adrian's servants to be cleansed.

Back in the city's main square, Feli and Lovi had climbed back onto Johan's back in a last attempt of seeking safety, as if their horse's tall stature would save them from what was about to come. They were ushered towards the high temple and the closer they got, the worse Lovino was feeling about the situation. It certainly didn't help that the man that had bumped into them was cowering behind them in fear.

Vague stories were resurfacing to his memory about people with spears. They liked waving them about, preferably with the heads of their enemies shish-kabobed onto them. At least, that's what he remembered his granduncle telling them. Gulping, he kissed his brother's head, "It was nice working with you, fratellino."

Feli bit his lip. So this really was it then, huh? If his brother didn't see a way out of it then it must be. Figuring that they were going to die soon, the young Italian sighed, "Lovi, I just want you to know…I'm sorry about your tomato garden."

Lovi frowned, "What are you—oh! Chigi! That was you?! You fuc—"

"Behold," cried Adrian to the hushed crowed, "as the prophecies foretold, the time of judgment is now!"

The two Italians stared in shock at the dark haired man. He was speaking Spanish! How the hell did he know Spanish? The shock of that quickly died when they realized what he'd said. Judgment. They were going to die! And at the hands of people who apparently didn't know the concept of pants. Behind Adrian, Máximo stepped forward and solemnly crossed his arms over his chest as he studied Lovino and Feliciano carefully. Adrian ignored him and continued, "Citizens! Was it not predicted that the Gods would come to us?"

Gods? What gods? Feli and Lovi looked around them before exchanging curious looks with each other. Did he mean…did he mean _them_? Miguel didn't seem as convinced by his uncle's assumption. He whispered, "How do we know for certain?"

Adrian grinned, "Faith, boy." He shoved him down on his knees before Johan and the two brothers and bowed, "My lords, I am Itzcoatl, your devoted high priest and speaker of the Gods. This is my nephew, Miguel, guardian of our sacred temples."

Lovi disentangled an arm from his brother and waved, saying with a meek smile, "Hey." He nudged Feli and the younger sibling waved as well.

"And I'm Chief Máximo." Máximo bowed next to Adrian, "What names may we call you?"

Swallowing a hysterical laugh by their sudden change in luck, Lovi dismounted Johan and straightened himself up to his full height, "My name is Lovino."

He helped his brother down but Feli's foot got tangled with Johan's reign. Lovi had to forcibly restrain himself from slapping his face. Thankfully, and only god knew how he did it, Feli managed to make it look as if it was intentional and in a surprisingly deep voice he said, "And I am Feliciano."

"And you may call us Lovino and Feliciano." Around him he could hear people murmur amongst themselves, repeating their names devotedly and weighing their divinity on their tongues.

Máximo tilted his head, "So, my lords, how long do you plan on staying in El Dorado?"

"Your arrival has been greatly anticipated," said Adrian, trailing off as he spotted Antonio trying to sneak away out of the corner of his eye. Sneering, he gripped Antonio by his arm, "I see you've captured this temple robbing thief. How would you have us punish him?"

Antonio squirmed with distress, "No, no, no! I'm not a thief!" He glanced between the high priest and the two Italians, "You see, th-th-the gods sent Ludwig 'n me a vision to bring them tribute from the temple to guide them here. My only wish is to help him serve the gods."

At the mention of Ludwig's name, Feli jerked his head to look at Antonio incredulously. Lovino glanced down as well and locked eyes with Antonio whose intense gaze was penetrating his, begging him to support his statement. He ignored Feli as his young brother let go of his arm and crossed him arms, "Release him…don't you think?" The sound of sharp breaths being sucked in had him wondering if he said the wrong thing but to his relief Adrian did as he said without question.

"As you wish, my lord." Motioning to the golden sphere in Antonio's hands, he added, "You'll begin with taking that to its rightful place."

Miguel watched as Antonio gave a worried look over to Máximo before scurrying back to the temple. He furrowed his brow, "My lords, are you sure you want him to be your servant? Surely there are others more devoted than—"

"No," said Feli with a dismissive wave of his hand, "He'll do. Isn't that right, Lovino?" Lovi shrugged noncommittally.

Light reflected from the golden ring around Feli's finger and Adrian nodded, "Behold, citizens! The sun child will soon be with his true master!" He turned to his nephew, "Where is he anyway? A cleanse doesn't take this long." The joy dimmed some as Miguel whispered into his ear. "I see.

Lovi grimaced and hid his own ring, which he still wore around his neck under his shirt. The last thing he need was for everyone to assume that he was wedded to a so called sun child. All he wanted right now was to find the gold and get the hell out of there.

"My lords," said Máximo again, "Forgive me, but why _now _did you choose to come to El Dorado ?"

"Enough," hissed Adrian angrily. He slapped Máximo, much to the Chief's annoyance and motioned towards Lovino and Feli, "You do not question the gods!"

Feli scowled, "That's right! Do not question us."

Lovi nodded in agreement. It would seem that all this new power had awoken something in Feli. Perhaps now he would be blessed with having a more cunning brother. One that would think quickly on his feet and have to rely on him to bust them out of—

"Or we'll have to be forced to unleash our great and terrible power! And you don't want that, do you."

—Scratch that. His brother was an idiot! Eyes tight and wide, Lovi felt his head involuntarily move on its own until it settled his gaze on Feliciano.

"Why yes, we do," cried Adrian.

"Ve…you do?" Feli's courage seemed to abandon him and he turned to Lovi bashfully.

"Of course we do!" A near manic smile graced his face as he turned to the citizens of El Dorado, "Visit your wrath on the non-believers. Show us the might of your divinity!"

"_Divinity_, heh," Lovi chuckled nervously as he tried to tug his brother away, "one moment."

Feliciano winced when his brother dug his fingers into his shoulder, "Ve…"

Forcing a smile, Lovi spoke in Italian through clenched teeth, "Brother, do you know that little voice that people have that tells them to quit while they're ahead? You don't have one!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I-I just got carried away…"

"_Way_ away!"

"Wh-what if we just tell the truth and beg for mercy?"

"Are you nuts?! We'll be butchered alive." Lovi crouched down and pressed his fingers to his head as he tried to come up with a plan. He felt Feli crouch down next to him.

"Yes, but, they're getting suspicious." Feli glanced over at his shoulder and saw Adrian grinning like a mad man while Miguel and Máximo stared at them with strained eyes. Gulping, he shook his brother and whispered, "If we don't come up with some super mega cosmic event—"

"Shut up!" Lovi slapped Feli's hands away and stood up, "I'm trying to think!"

Feli followed him up and kept talking to him rapidly. Behind them, Johan noticed the dark smoke they saw earlier get darker. The dark horse neighed at them frightfully and nudged at the two brothers. Lovi pushed his head away, "I can't think with all these distractions. I swear to god if it's not you it's the horse and when it's not the horse it's you. It's a never ending cycle with you two!"

The people of El Dorado watched their two deities bicker between themselves in a foreign tongue that Ludwig had failed to teach them. Rumbles from their volcano became loud enough to force their gaze on to it. They gripped what they had in their hands tightly and looked between the two mighty forces in horror. It would seem that their gods were awakening the slumbering mountain with their anger alone.

Adrian seemed perplexed at first but quickly put two and two together. As Feli shook and smacked his brother's head, paired with their dark steed insistent snorts and neighs, the redder Lovino's face got. The redder Lovino's face got, the more violent the smoking mountain became. Black ash and terrible smoke oozed from its hole threatening their very city with its fury when Lovino finally snapped and growled, "STOP!"

'Wonderful,' thought Adrian to himself as the volcano miraculously sucked in all of its destructive force back, spewing a last bit of smoke in apology. He smirked at Máximo's gaping expression and crossed his arms proudly.

The two brothers noticed that it was deafly silent around them. Gone were the hushed mutterings and excited gasps. Lovi and Feliciano slowly turned around. Usually, after things had gone their way in a scam back in Spain, they would be filled to the brim with joy and relief. That paled in comparison to what they felt as they eyed every citizen bowing before them with their foreheads pressed to the ground in worship. Nudging his brother to follow his lead, Lovi spread his arms out in triumph.

"Oh mighty lords," gushed Adrian, bowing before the two. He sent a scowl to Máximo and the chief bowed before them as well. Pleased, Adrian motioned for the Italian's to follow him, "Come, let me show you to your temple."

Feli giggled, "Alright! Temple~" Lovi rolled his eyes affectionately and draped an arm around his brother's shoulder as they followed after Adrian.

Dark eyes glistening with mirth, Adrian smirked smugly at his chief, "Step aside."

Máximo took a stiff step back, allowing Adrian to walk past. He glanced over his shoulder to his people as they hesitantly stood back up. The gods had finally arrived which meant that their time of living fearless of the sacrifices had come to an end. If these divine entities were anything like how Adrian said they were, life as they knew was surely going to come to a bloody end.

* * *

><p><strong>Ok, so, I had to FORCE my self from using this version of the chapter as opposed to the original version where Feli finds out that Ludwig is still alivetheir reunion. However, I have something else in mind for that in the next chapter. As of now, Antonio believes that Ludwig is with their parents in the jungle and he is plotting his own escape, preferably with gold. Mexico's name changed and I will let Antonio explain why Ludwig calls him Adrian in the next chapter. The armadillo, I kept calling creature because I'm still not sure what I want it to be. I was thinking that it could be Itabby/Gino but then I remembered that they use him as a ball in the movie and as such he will be used as a ball in the story. Not sure if I want to do that to poor Gino...then I was thinking Mochi! Italy but then I wondered, why the heck would mochi exist in this story? Then again...there a stoned jaguar will be brought to life so I don't know. What do you guys think? Stick to the armadillo or bring in mochi? I would make something up for it to make sense...the only reason I'm hesitant is because, that's kind of animal abuse, you know? I mean i killed Hana in another story and had to go bring her back to life because I felt bad lol. **Anyway, I hope to update soon. I have my thanksgiving break coming up so I'll be able to write another chapter by then. OMG! I just realized. You guys have been with me for a year now haven't y'all? Oh! Oh! This is freaking amazing! I love all of you, do y'all know that? I'm sorry it takes me a while to update. I do try but it's getting real close to the time where I'm going to start applying to nursing school and I need to take a test for that so I've been studying and trying to keep my gpa at a competitive level T_T On the plus side of that, because I've literally been in school ALL year round, I'm taking the spring and summer off so, I'll have plenty of stories for you guys...cause, come fall and if I am accepted into nursing...well, I don't want to think about that cause it makes me sad. ** **

**A huge thanks to everyone who's added this story to their favorites/follow list. It means so much ^_^**

**PS- How would you guys like it if at the end of the story, as part of the memo I write to alert the next story, if I add like the scenes that didn't make the cut for the story? Kind of like a deleted scenes segment? I have a whole bunch for all the disneytalia stories, especially for the one that started it all The Ghost Of Notre Dame**

**~Until Next Time ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ**

**VivaAmerica: lol, yes! He's adorable. Can't wait till he meet's Gino the...whatever I decide to make him lol! Poor Lars lol. He's such a stick in the mud ^_^' I do too! I think they're cute little guys, can't wait to continue their interactions. I'm especially looking forward to the game they play against Cuba's warriors lol! **

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: Antonio's parents wont be mentioned again until the last chapter, at least not by name. Is Adrian better? lol It's actually my name minus the -a at the end ^_^ And I meant Johan as a horse （ ´∀｀） my mistake lol!**

**HeroinOfDarkenss: They are! Antonio's figuring out who our two Italians are and will tease them in the next chapter. Ludwig will find out about Feli then too and vice versa. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ Yes it is! Lol, I always liked them, even in their own world or whatever, to have this strange friendship because they're both so close to the Italy Brothers. But in this, I liked the idea of Antonio's parents adopting Ludwig and for the two kids to teach each other their language. It's even better because Antonio was so fascinated by Ludwig's painting of Lovi and Feli, Lovino in particular that he would bug Ludwig to tell him stories about the angry little tomato! And Ludwig would be like, 'Nein, I want to talk about Feli. Feli's the cute one.'  
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**romanos-curl: mine too! My sister told me that that scene reminds her the most of her and me, with her being Tulio and me being Miguel. We've been in a situation like that once before during a role play thing we did with a group of our friends and family. lol, we went camping and the younger kids and teens, and me lol, decided it would be fun if we role played capture the flag. My sister, cousin and I were "imprisoned" because of something stupid we did while playing capture the flag and that whole boat scene is like the synopsis of what went down with us. It was amazing! *sigh* sorry, lol（ ´∀｀）I was caught in the moment. Back to the review, I'm so happy you like that about my stories! I try to put my own spin on these things so that they're still mine, you know? Also because I know that most of us grew up with these stories but we're not kids anymore so we can get away with a more mature version of the plot. Lol, I think none of us can wait for Spamano interaction ^^ I certainly can't wait to write it!**

**pastaaddict: Poor Lovi, I agree! lol. Gosh! As I'm writing this, I REALLY want to go back and change the story to the original just so that I can show how Ludwig reacted at seeing Feli. But I think it would serve the story better if I wait till next chapter for them to see each other again. (o´ω｀o)**

**zoewinter1: They are! (≧ω≦)**


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